Vampire High Naruto
by HazySunray
Summary: What happens when their world faces demons closer to home than they expected? Find out how strong the bond between Mentor and Charge can be.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. bThis is a fanfic. A cool one, this time!/b :D

He stroked her neck and she backed away a little more. In a flash, he was behind her, pulling her against him and licking her neck. She started breathing hysterically and he grazed her pale flesh gingerly with the soft part of his fangs. She tugged at his arms, already aware of the fact that she was weaker than him, and kicked his leg as hard as she could with the point of her heel.

"Oh come on," he purred, "you're asking for it, wearing that flimsy little V-neck... I can see the vein throbbing in your neck... you want it, don't you?"

"No! Please, no, don't!"

"It won't hurt.. it'll be over before you know it."

"I don't want to be a vampire!"

"Then why did you come to this school?"

"B-because th-they said you were safe; that you wouln't harm us!"

"Is it for our charming looks, perhaps?" His voice was raspy like he would die if he didn't get any of her blood within the minute. And yet, he appeared to be calm and cool. His expression was smoothe and his bright, luminous blue eyes caught her in a trapped gaze.

"No, i-it's just that this school is the best school there is in Japan and I-I wanted to become a doctor and-"

He knew she was rambling on out of fear and he was no longer interested in her desires or ambitions.

"A doctor, eh? Then.." he spun her around to make her face him, "you must know all about the human body and.. what flows through it."

"Pl-please!" she begged.

"You'll enjoy this, I promise."

She shrieked as he pierced her flesh with his sharp little fangs and feasted off her. As he had said, she was starting to enjoy it and she moaned as he sucked her blood and allowed it to fill his mouth with glee. When he released her, she dropped to the ground and he simply wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Ah.." he sighed, content. "What are you, B plus?"

She nodded shakily, body quivering as she tried to stand, but was too light-headed and hadn't the strength to. "A-a-aren't you going t-to..?"

"What? Turn you into a vampire? Why should I?"

"B-but I-"

"I thought you didn't want to become a vampire."

"B-but I-I'll die-"

"You won't. I've left you with enough blood to stay alive. And besides, I've got healing powers. Nobody I bite will die unless I suck all the blood out of them. You're lucky you had me. If any of the others got you, you would've been dead or a vampire by now."

"Th-thank you?"

"No problemo."

With a sigh, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and leaped up the building with only his feet, crawling through an open window and disappearing out of sight.

He took a deep breath and spotted Chouji at his locker, sucking at the straw he'd pushed through a plasma-pack.

"Okay, that is just disgusting."

"Huh? Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"Hey! You got someone!"

"Hmm?"

"I can smell it! Where is she? Is she still alive?"

"Why couldn't it be a 'he'?"

"Cos you're not like that. You think girls have sweeter blood. You're a sweet-tooth, Naruto. Now tell me, where is she?"

"Get your own damn victim. I didn't do anything."

"Ooh, Tsunade's gonna get you for this one!"

Naruto punched his shoulder playfully and smirked. "Why would she find out?" he asked as he strolled away briskly.

"Ah! So you admit it!" Chouji looked down at his plasma-pack, realizing it was already empty, and tossed it underneath Shino's locker.

"You're late, Uzumaki."

"I'm sorry, sensei, I had some trouble getting to school."

"Fine. Whatever. Sit."

"Yes, sensei."

Uchiha Itachi continued his lesson and Naruto took his seat by the window, next to Sasuke.

"Where've you been, dobe?" Sasuke whispered, turning from his mentor at the front to his friend. The raven's eyes suddenly spread open wide when he saw the glimmering droplet of blood on the blonde's lower lip. "You... You got someone!"

"Shht! Keep it down, jerktard." Naruto smiled as he continued, "B plus. Delicious, I tell you."

Sasuke was about to reply, but Itachi interrupted him.

"You two in the back! Shut up."

"Yes, sensei!" the two said in chorus.

Sasuke turned back to Naruto and continued in a more hushed tone of voice, "Where? When? You're gonna get into serious trouble, you know that?"

"Trouble? What for? She's still alive."

"I said, SHUT UP."

"Sorry, sensei!"

Sasuke and Naruto both looked down at their desks until Sasuke kicked him and whispered in a menacing tone, "You idiot, you're gonna get expelled."

"Not if I don't get caught."

"Okay! Uchiha and Uzumaki, detention for a week."

"What?"

Sasuke kicked the blonde again and Naruto yelped.

"I mean, sorry, sensei."

Itachi smirked ever-so-lightly and went on with the lesson.

~*~*~*~ During Lunch ~*~*~*~

"Uzumaki!"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up, only to come eye to eye with his mentor, Hatake Kakashi.

"Tsunade-sama wishes to see you."

"Fuck."

"Get moving."

"Yes, sir."

As the two of them walked through the halls, Kakashi scanned the area to see if there was anyone around before pushing the blonde against a row of lockers, causing a whole lot of noise. Naruto merely chuckled though, looking up curiously.

"What appears to be the problem, sir?"

"You know what the problem is," Kakashi hissed.

"Oh yes?"

"If you can't control your hunger, we don't need you at this academy."

"Is it such a problem, then? I mean; she's alive and well. She'll be back to studying in an hour or so."

"She is scarred for life and prepared to scar the reputation of this school, as well."

"How was I to know such a thi-" but his mentor had already pulled him back by his T-shirt and shoved him against the lockers once more.

"If you insistantly couldn't control your need anymore," the man growled in a lower tone of voice, "you could have come to me."

There was silence for a while, until, "You know I don't like male blood."

"This isn't a matter of taste! Blood is blood and if that is what you are craving for, then go for it. Just do it with the right people. You all got blood pills, why are you not taking those?"

"My body can not endure them at times. It depends on how strong my body is. And you know what makes it stronger."

"You could have asked Chouji for a plasma pack."

Naruto pulled a disgusted face.

"You could have done a million other things besides biting a human girl!"

Naruto huffed. "Look, can we just go to Tsunade-sama's office to get it over with? I'd really like to get this talk off my back."

"Oh it isn't just a talk, Naruto. I doubt you'll be coming back to this school at all."

The teen was silent, but persisted upon going to speak to the bleach-blonde principal.

Tsunade slammed her fist on her desk, causing a huge crack to burst the middle of it. If she had wanted it to, she could have made the whole table crumble to pieces, but it wasn't exactly in the school-budget to go buy polished desks for the fun of it.

"You idiot!" she jammed out through clenched teeth. "How could you do something so stupid? What are you, retarded?"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama." Naruto replied with his arms crossed behind his back and his feet a little apart as though he were a soldier.

"Yes, well, sorry isn't going to get my reputation back, is it? Do you have any idea what the consequences of your actions are? For years we have been able to keep up our clean name and now you've destroyed all the hard work of my predecessors! Do you even have the slightest idea how many vampires have bitten a human in this school before?"

".. Very little, m'am?"

"NONE!" Tsunade boomed. "None! Not one vampire has succeeded to soil the name of Rouku Nintai Shouri (Hardship Endurance Triumph) High! And you -" she took a while to contain all her anger in her fist. "You are the retard that screwed us all over! I don't know whether to kill you or just expell you!"

Naruto didn't shriek or anything. "Do whatever you think is best, Tsunade-sama."

The bleach-blonde female smirked, throwing her fist against the wall behind her, causing a huge crack to spread all the way to the ceiling. "I will do exactly that. You are going to stay in this school-"

Naruto let out a big sigh, but her sentence wasn't over yet,

"-and you will donate your own blood to the school's laboratory, to help fill up plasma-packs."

"What? But, Tsunade-sama, if I lose that much blood, I'll-" but his mentor had kicked him in the face, which resulted in the blonde smacking right into the wall, but Kakashi didn't care in the slightest.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," he said, bowing to the lady, before heading over to his charge and dragging him away by the collar of his black-white-red school uniform.

The vampire lounge was filled with sofa's, occupied by those who enjoyed to feast on each-other in the dim lights of the fiery neon-displays on the walls. It had been the idea of the two female class-counselors, Ino and Sakura, to create a vampire lounge. After a lot of begging and persuasion ( of which plenty had been the hard evidence that vampires long for blood more during school-hours , being surrounded by a bunch of humans ), they had gotten what they wanted. And the decoration? That was female fun.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, Gaara and Sai, had been sitting on the sofa's in the corner of the lounge, unaccompanied by the female vampires who were basically throwing themselves at each-and-every vampire in the room.

Kakashi nearly tripped over Kiba and Hinata who were laying on the floor, drinking from each-other's necks as though their lives depended on it. (Which they did, if you thought about it.)

"You're damn-ass lucky," the teen's mentor lectured the blonde, before dropping him next to Sasuke and leaving the vampire lounge with some quick words of, "Keep it safe, kiddies."

Naruto's friends all turned to him as he sat up straight, groaning as he cracked his neck.

"And?" Shikamaru asked.

"And what?"

"Oh come on, Naruto," Chouji said, "you know what we want to know."

"Are you expelled or not?" Sasuke demanded.

"Nope."

"But?" the raven prodded him on.

"But I've got to help out with filling the plasma-packs."

"Wow, you got off the hook easily," Chouji smiled, popping a couple of blood-pills in his mouth. Before Chouji became a vampire, he was chubby. Now he was as lean as all the rest, being it so that he craved for blood more than junk-food.

"No," Shikamaru replied. "That can't be it. There's got to be a catch. They wouldn't want Naruto to help out with filling the plasma-packs; he's too clumsy for that. They want iyour/i blood, don't they? They will be helping iyou/i to fill the plasma-packs; not other way around."

"You know, Shikamaru, you are way too smart for your own good," Naruto chuckled, standing up when he heard the bell for the start of the second half of school.

"Hn," was Shikamaru's only response, though.

When Naruto and Sasuke headed to class together, the raven was staring at him intently, which was annoying Naruto thoroughly.

"Okay, seriously, I know I'm attractive, but could you quit staring?"

"You're gonna break if you donate blood to those guys."

"Yes, well, there isn't much to be done now, is there? I can consider myself lucky I can stay in this school."

"Naruto, we all know that when you're hungry, you're weak. When you're weak, your body can't handle the blood pills. If they suck too much blood out of you, they'll k-"

"Worries for later, Sasuke." And the blonde waved the raven off as a sign that he didn't want to hear it anymore. Sasuke complied and the two of them started annoying each other and poking each other on their way to Maths.

Kurenai-sensei was, obviously, a vampire. Of all the teachers, she was the one that stood out the most as a vampire. It was probably her eyes that gave it away. She had been born a vampire, so she couldn't do anything about it. And being it so that her natural eye colour was red, the glow in her eyes was so intent that her eyes appeared to have the colour of blood.

The only thing different about vampires' eyes, is that their eyes seem to be glowing when it's dark. The colour itself stands out more, as well, and when they lose themselves and to berserk, the whites of their eyes turn black. Once that happens, the vampire cannot be stopped, nor can it stop itself and lives will, inevitably, be lost.

"Inuzuka, four. You'd better study hard for the next test." She glared at Kiba for just a moment, too short for humans to notice, but long enough for the vampires to see.

Naruto gniffled. Kiba was Kurenai's charge, along with Hinata and Shino.

"Uzumaki, three."

Naruto abruptly stopped and noted his grade in his agenda, only 'correctly'. Basically, he noted it as a seven, because he believed it was only fair.

It was an unwritten rule that vampires without parents would have to show their grades to their mentors. And Kakashi sure as hell wasn't gonna be happy with his grades at all if he found out. It made Naruto wish he had Shikamaru's mentor, Asuma. That man was unstoppable when it came to being stoic and uncaring. Kind of like Shikamaru. Only Shikamaru was kinder and less obvious when it came to not giving a shit at all. At least he was able to state it politely.

Naruto's only occupation during Maths was throwing tiny pieces of paper at Kiba, who threw them back just as hard, if not harder. Kurenai had caught it with her eyes, but didn't say anything, out of fear that the students just might give up all hope on learning together with vampires, because they were just too dangerous. None of the humans were able to see the tiny bits of paper, and it would only scare the shit out of them if they knew what was going on without their knowledge.

And nobody dared to wreck the name of this prestiguous school... except Naruto, of course.

Biology was Naruto's last period of the day and he wasn't looking forward to the teachings of his mentor at all. It was the only class in which the blonde really had to pay attention if he didn't want any of his mates thinking he was slacking off cos his mentor was his teacher, and he also knew that Kakashi wouldn't believe he was trying his hardest at understanding Biology if he didn't put in an effort.

It wasn't true, of course. But he loved to play offended whenever the silverhaired vampire accused him of being lazy and unmotivated.

And it sure wasn't fun to have to learn about the human body and the cells that it contained when under the pressure of not-biting anyone. Even with Kakashi's back to him, he could feel the killer intent radiating from the man's body whenever he so much as ilooked/i at the beautiful, soft neck of the girl in front of him.

~*~*~ After class ~*~*~

Naruto wiped his forehead with the back of his hand as he and Sasuke exited the classroom.

"Izumi-san?" Sasuke asked.

"She has the most exquisite smell in the whole world. I swear, if blood could smell like flowers, then hers does."

"Get a hold of yourself, mosquito-boy. You could suck a whole collony dry."

"Are you telling me uyou/u couldn't? You're a famous Uchiha. You could drink up a herd of cows if you wanted to."

"But I control the strength of restraining my lusts. If only you were born an Uchiha, then perhaps you might understand."

"Psh, are you telling me Itachi can control himself when the two of you are alone?"

Sasuke pushed the blonde roughly, yet still playfully. "You know that's a whole different matter. The only blood that could satisfy an Uchiha is the blood of another Uchiha."

"Still, he's your ibrother/i, dude. I couldn't imagine having a family-member as my mentor."

"Well, he is, whether I want him to be or not. It isn't my fault he wanted to become a teacher. Speaking of mentors, yours is standing at the stairway."

Naruto turned around to look at the man all the way at the end of the hall. "So?"

"So why do you think he's there? He's waiting for you, of course."

"Shit! The plasma-packs. He's probably making sure I actually go to the lab."

"So are you?"

"'Course not."

"Now I know you," Sasuke grinned. "Tell him you're going to help me find my jacket first. They always buy that one."

"But if we head to the vampire dorms, he'll just come find me there. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"You could always hide in your locker all night long, like last time."

"Har, har, very funny." Naruto rolled his eyes. His blood started to boil and rush through his body, though, when his mentor walked over to him.

"Sasukeeeee," he whined, expecting the raven to come up with an idea for him.

"You gonna stand there and piss your pants or are we gonna get to the lab already?" Kakashi asked the blonde, standing in front of him in a flash.

"Hatake-sensei, do you think I could bring Naruto to the lab?"

"Like I don't know you two. C'mon, Naruto. You're not running away from this." He grabbed the blonde by his tie and dragged him along, only sparing him enough oxygen to turn around and hiss at the raven, "Great going, Sasuke, that was ingenius!" sarcastically.

They called the vampire dorms moon dorms, because it sounded nicer. Female vampires slept in the East wing, while Male vampires slept in the West one. The dorms were in the back of the school. If you wanted to get to them, you had to cross the Garden of Hope. Another pretty name for something extremely dull and grey. Apparently, it had been full of life, once. Long ago.

Naruto leaned all his weight on his mentor as the older male guided him to the back building, crossing the stoney path in the Garden zigg-zaggily. Eventually, Naruto slung his arm off his mentor's shoulder and dropped to the ground, taking deep breaths as he held his waist, trying to contain himself.

Kakashi kneeled down before the blonde and bit his wrist through his mask. His fangs had created two little holes in the black fabric, but they were so tiny you could barely see them.

Naruto's mind raced and he wanted to grab his mentor's arm and drink all the blood it contained, but he knew well enough that you couldn't disrespect an older vampire like that. His feet started to kick and it took both his arms now to hold himself back. He turned his head away and shut his eyes, but his nostrils had caught on to the scent of his mentor's sweet blood and he couldn't help but whine like a puppy in longing.

The silverhaired vampire held his wrist out to the blonde and nodded his head in praise, almost as if to congratulate him for restraining himself so well in such a weak state. When a mentor nodds his/her head, it is usually their way of telling their charge they are permitted to drink, only because they were respectful and waited obediently.

Naruto grabbed the vampire's arm with both hands and feasted off his blood happily, head in the clouds like a child who had gotten fifty dollars in a toy-store. He ravaged off his mentor's cells and took them up in his own body, claiming them as his. Not once had any vampire thought about illnesses that came with taking up another's blood, because they are too strong to get sick.

But not only that; for a vampire to become a mentor, he or she must be an extremely strong and accomplished vampire. And those who are able to get that far must be utterly healthy and immune to all sicknesses.

And Naruto had drunk Kakashi's blood before. He knew his mentor was healthy as a horse.

The older vampire held up his other hand as a sign that the blonde had to stop and Naruto, finding it as hard as ever, braced himself as he pulled his fangs out of his mentor's arm. He had not been satisfied with so little blood, even if he had created two additional holes to suck from. Naruto barely ever was satisfied. But that was just because he was a pureblood. A pureblood vampire without parents to drink from.

Still, he felt stronger and more capable to get by alone again.

"Can you find your way to the West Wing by yourself?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright, I'll leave you to it." And with that, the more accomplished vampire headed for the mentors' dorms in the South wing.

Naruto took a deep breath before continuing on his way again.

His mates had all been asleep already when he entered his room. Ever wing consisted of ten rooms; with space for eight people in every room. It was highly prohibited and against the rules for a male vampire to go to a female vampire's room at night and they were not allowed out of their rooms after ten p.m.

It wasn't true that vampires die in the sun. They only get weaker. This was something that Tsunade had taken advantage of when she created the school, and she had made it so that all vampires must attend class during the day instead of at night, because they are weaker and less able to cause much damage. This only served to be brutally annoying, though, because most vampires are therefore extremely tired at the end of the day and sleep all through the night, when they should be awake.

Naruto didn't mind, but his friends did, because when they went home for the holidays, their whole sleeping-pattern was off. Most of his mates slept through New Year's eve, when their parents and youngest siblings went to celebrate at a banquet.

Naruto himself, had never been invited to such a banquet, but he attended them sometimes. Just for the fun of it, you know. Humans with the most delicious blood were present at these 'parties' and the wine was mixed with blood, causing vampires to not only be satisfied, but also woozy.

The blonde crawled into bed tiredly, his mentor's blood still rushing through his veins, keeping him awake. He hated this. He was tired like hell and he couldn't fall asleep. All he could think of was Kakashi's wrist as he planted his lips on it and pierced it with his fangs. He relived the moment and felt shivers all over his body.

He wanted, nay, ineeded/i more.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Naruto awoke to a loud yell. Before he had even gotten the chance to open his eyes, Kiba had his hands around his throat and pushed him against the ground with full-force.

"You fucking imbecile!" Kiba screamed and Naruto smelled the ever-present smell of blood extremely close to his face. It took a while for him to remember last night, when he had been thriving for more of the metal-scented liquid and gone for the brunette's arm.

"Hey, at least I didn't bite your neck, right?"

"You freak! What do you think Hinata's gonna say when she sees this?"

"What, just tell her Kurenai did it."

"Kurenai-sama always bites my hand, you retard!"

"Hinata doesn't know that."

"Hinata knows that Kurenai-sama always bites in the same place!"

"Then just tell her she had a change of mind. People have that all the time."

"I hope for YOUR well-being that she buys it, scarface! If she doesn't..." Kiba let his sentence drag on threateningly.

"Then what? You know I'm stronger than you."

"You're obviously starved to death, else you wouldn't do something like this! You're weak, Uzumaki-boy! Now get the fuck away from my bed!"

Naruto was ready to fling himself at the Inuzuka, but Sasuke held him back and muttered, "Don't get yourself into bad situations. Think of what Kakashi-sensei would say if you beat the shit outta dogbreath."

The blonde didn't say anything for a while, but eventually mumbled, "I don't give a shit what Kakashi-sama thinks."

"Isn't it him who gave you his blood last night?"

"How would you know?"

"I know that you wouldn't have had the strength to make it back to our room if he hadn't."

"He only gave my a little. Not enough to dull my senses by far. I couldn't sleep."

"You fell asleep next to Kiba's bed; I think you were tired enough."

"I was tired, yeah. I just couldn't sleep."

"It's just the kick, Naruto. Ecstacy and extreme alertness and awareness is one of the things you'll have to deal with when you take in another's blood."

"Yeah."

"So, let's go fetch ourselves some breakfast, shall we?"

Most humans didn't go near the vampires during meals, because they were well-aware of the fact that they would way rather have a glass of blood with their eggs than water or coffee.

Naruto was a milk-drinker. Sasuke preferred coffee.

"And what do you gents have later?" Sakura asked as she, Ino, Tenten, Sai and Shikamaru joined them at their table.

"Economy," Sasuke answered as Naruto nibbled on a piece of toast.

"Ugh, Kakuzu-sensei is so boring. Bad luck," Ino replied.

"Beats Physics. I really don't like learning from my own mentor," Shikamaru added, leaning his head on the table.

"That's cos you've got to stay awake," Naruto said, poking the teen in the cheek to see if he was still awake.

"At least I'll get to sleep afterwards. We get English from Zabuza-sensei. He's even less motivated than Genma-sensei."

"You guys are lucky. We start with History from Iruka-sensei and then we've got Chem from Itachi-sensei."

"Oh, Tenten, you've got no clue how lucky iyou/i are," Naruto disagreed, "we may start with Economy, but we've got two hours of Maths after that."

"After each other?"

"Yeah.." Naruto sighed.

"Poor boy," Sakura smirked evily, "you're gonna need something zingy to keep you happy, then, don't you think?" She reached her hand over the table and turned her wrist to his mouth, nodding as though she were a mentor herself.

Sasuke and Shikamaru smirked.

"Better take the chance while you still can; Kakashi's late for breakfast again, but if he walks in and sees you..." Sasuke didn't finish the sentence for the better, and Naruto took that as approval and permission to let himself have a morning treat.

He took her hand and leaned over the table a little to penetrate her soft, young skin, with his sharp little fangs. She smiled even broader Sai looked around for his mentor before doing the same with Ino.

Sakura giggled before mischieveously noting, "Now you're in my debt, Naruto-kun."

Naruto knew exactly what she meant by that and reached his arm out across the table for her. Her stumpr, smaller teeth cut right through his flesh like tiny razors and a drop of blood landed on a slice of toast on the plate beneath his wrist.

Ino grinned as Sai fed her the slice of toast and only Shikamaru felt left-out. Sasuke had never felt that hunger for the blood of his friends, because the respected Uchiha clan only strives for the blood of Uchiha. So he simply sipped at his coffee, eyes shut contently as he basked in the serenity of his ground coffeebeans.

"You kids know it's a rule not to have any blood before midday, right?"

"I-Ibiki-sensei!" Ino sputtered.

"I suggest you all stop whatever you're doing and behave like normal students before I get you all expelled."

"It shall not happen again, Ibiki-sama," Sai apologized to his mentor, eye downcast as Ino's hand slipped from his grasp.

"Naturally. If it does, don't even think about coming back here."

"Yes, sir."

When the rule-bound sensei was out of sight, Naruto leaned back in his chair and sighed. "No fun at this place at all. We can't do anything!"

"It is to be expected, though," Sasuke sighed as well. "For humans and vampires to study under the same roof... The whole reason for this school was just so vampires could get a good job, as well."

"Still.. we should be allowed to have some fun!"

"I think so too, but their policy is that if you want to have fun, you're better off scowering the streets for some poor people to drink from," Shikamaru replied.

"Jeesh! They're acting like it's a sin to be a vampire!"

"Not so loud, Naruto," Sakura hushed him.

"Think about it," the blonde insisted, though, "we could kill each and every one of them if we wanted to, and yet we're still listening to them like obedient little birds in the clutches of a cat."

"We're not listening to ithem/i," Sasuke said, "we're listening to the higher-ups. The vampires who believe we should live together in peace. We would be nothing without the humans."

"How so?"

"Ugh, I don't feel like going into details. This is stuff we'll only learn in like two years or so. All in all, don't worry about it for now." Sasuke set down his empty coffee cup and stood up. "I'm gonna go get myself ready for Economy. You coming?"

"Yeah."

"Hurry up, Naruto," Sasuke demanded impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Seriously, how long does it take to take a piss?"

"You go ahead. I'll catch up to you. Save me the seat by the window."

"Whatever. Be on time."

"Yeah."

Sasuke shut the door to the boys' bathroom behind himself and Naruto lifted his feet up against the wall of his cabin, fingers shaking as he forced himself to take another pill. Just like with the last one, though, he was forced to stand up and chuck the contents of his breakfast in the toilet along with the little blue pill. A drop of sweat slid down his forehead and he took three at a time, but the same happened all over again.

"Calm down, Naruto," he whispered to himself, "it'll be okay. Control yourself."

He took another one, but it was forced out of his body once more.

"Sakura gave you some this morning. It'll be okay. You'll just ask Chouji for a plasma pack during recess."

The thought of the bag with the red fluid had him emptying whatever was left in his stomach; basically stomach acid and other fluids.

He swung the bathroom-door open and tightened his grasp on the little tin box with devilish blue pills inside. He leaned his hands on the edge of the sink and stared at his reflection, seeing nothing but the hopelessness and hunger in his eyes.

He washed his face and took a deep breath. "One more try," he forced himself, shoving another pill down his throat and swallowing as much water as he could while doing so. When he was sure it was in, he felt something was off, and five seconds later the pill was back in the sink, lodging up the drain.

"Screw it!"

"I am so glad that's over," Kankurou groaned as he stretched and followed the gang outside into the hallway.

"Kankurou.." Naruto clung to his arm, huffing, "do you, by any chance, have a plasma-pack on you?"

"Nope, sorry Naruto. Maybe Gaara's got one."

"He's got P.E. now. Do you know where Chouji is?"

"He should be on his way to Biology right now. Everything cool, Naruto? You look a lil' pale."

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just need a plasma pack."

"You sure? I thought you were disgusted by those things."

"I am. I just need one."

"Better hurry, then. Maths is gonna start in ten minutes if you want to be on time."

"Shall I go with you?" Sasuke offered.

"No, that's alright. I'll go by myself."

"'Kay. See you later."

"See ya'."

When Naruto spotted Chouji at the entrance for Biology, he almost freaked out and started screaming the brunette's name, but he managed to control himself and head over to his mate quickly.

"Chouji!" he clung to the boy's big scarf, "I need a plasma pack!"

"Sure, Naruto."

"Come, gimme gimme, quick."

"Oh, inow/i?"

"Well of course now! When else, at Christmas?"

"Sorry Naruto, I haven't gotten any on me right now. D'you want a blood pill instead?"

"No. I can't take them. Do you know anybody here that has one inst-"

"Uzumaki!"

"-ead? Huh? Oh, Kakashi-sama. What appears to be the problem, sir?" He straightened himself out as best he could, but realized he must've failed pathetically. Chouji understood that this was his qeue to leave and entered the classroom, leaving the two alone in the hallway.

Just before the door shut behind the brunette, Kakashi demanded, "What're you doing here? Which class do you have right now?"

When the door shut, however, he gave the teen a considerate look before lightly slapping his cheek and grabbing his chin & jaw, turning his face from left to right. "You look pale. Tried drinking your own blood again, have you?"

"No!" Naruto snapped. "I just needed to find a plasma pack."

"And the blood pills? Still can't take them?"

"No, sir."

"Very well," Kakashi sighed, pulling out an emergency plasma pack from his bag. He handed it to the teen, who clawed at it nervously, trying to find the opening. The older vampire sighed again and shoo'ed his hands away before snapping open the plastic mouthpiece.

Naruto slugged it all down within mere seconds and took a deep breath before anouncing, "That wasn't so bad."

"Great, now get to your classroom."

"Yes, sir."

~*~*~ Midday ~*~*~

"Two hours of Maths after each other is just too much," Kiba complained, tailed by Hinata.

"Totally," she agreed, hanging on his heck and tracing over her bitemarks with her fingertips.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked when he saw the raven exiting the classroom abruptly. He followed the teen, but found himself shoved away agressively the moment he got close to the teen.

"What's up, man?" he asked, getting worried.

"Where-where's Itachi-sama?" Sasuke asked, shaking a little as he sped up.

"Not you, too! Shit! Well, you're the only one who would know; you're the one who has his blood inside you."

But by mentioning that, Sasuke only got more worked up and Narut found himself having to drag him into the boys' bathroom to try and calm him down.

"How long has it been?" he asked as he went into his pocket.

"A month or so."

"A month?" Naruto repeated. "You're a fucking fool!"

"I'm not like you, Uzumaki." Sasuke spit in the sink. "I can control my urges."

"No, you're uforcing/u yourself to. That's different." Naruto pushed a little blue pill in the raven's mouth.

Sasuke swallowed it and almost instantly calmed down.

"Okay?" Naruto asked, waiting for confirmation that his friend was alright again.

Sasuke nodded and the two left the bathroom calmly and collected.

"Let's go find Itachi-sensei."

Naruto watched silently as his Chemistry teacher took a strand of his friend's hair between his thumb and index finger and stared deeply into Sasuke's starving eyes. After a while of staring, he brought his finger to his mouth and bit the back of it. The younger raven remained calm until Itachi nodded and he pressed his lips against his brother's flesh, ravaging his blood happily.

Itachi turned from Sasuke to Naruto and the blonde took it as a warning, so he turned around and left the two alone as his teacher wanted.

He found himself strolling the academy grounds at a leisure pace, only stopping when he saw Gaara behind a tree with Kaori; a human.

It was only when Gaara's seagreen eyes caught sight of him and he stopped sucking her neck abruptly, that he realized he had been staring and he turned away.

"Well come over here, then. You already gave me away."

Kaori giggled. "Gaara-sama, please, you act like I'm a bunny for the fox."

Gaara licked the trail of blood that had oozed out of the holes in her neck up and looked at Naruto, grinning lightly. Naruto instantly understood, without the redhead having to say a word, that that was precisely what she was.

"Here, you can have her. I have no use for her anymore."

"But, Gaara-sama, you said you would turn me into a vampire!"

"Do you want me to kill you?" he replied, voice thunderous, yet still icy cold.

She understood the message and turned her gaze from Gaara to Naruto, almost expectant, yet still pleading.

"Go ahead," Gaara encouraged him, "us purebloods need more than ordinary vampires, do we not?"

Naruto accepted and knealed down beside the brunette girl, placing his lips on the holes in her neck Gaara had already created for him. Feeling an intense rush and wave of pleasure over his body, he opened his shut eyes to look at Gaara questionably while still drinking.

"They say I have a gift," Gaara said, like he understood what Naruto was confused about, "I can pick out the tastiest humans with the finest blood."

Naruto pulled his lips from the girl's neck, noticing that her eyes were already rolling backwards in their sockets. "So you're a sniffer?"

"No. Sniffers do it with their noses. And much less accurately, too, might I add. Why did you stop? Does she not suit your liking, anymore?"

"She might die if I continue."

"Does it matter?"

"I think it does."

"Very well. I shall not argue with another pureblood."

"Do you do this a lot? Feed off humans on school grounds, I mean."

"I do it more than you can count. How else can we remain satisfied? Those vampires do not comprehend how strong we can be once we have met our needs."

"Do you mean... you kill those that see you?"

"Naturally. I can not risk getting caught, can I now?"

"..I guess not." Naruto had gotten uncomfortable and stood up. "Look, my friend's waiting for me. I gotta' go. See ya'."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara said, before the blonde could turn around. "You will be silent, shall you not?"

"Of course, Sabaku no Gaara. I can keep my mouth."

"Good. I believe you shall find yourself extremely content tonight."

"Huh?"

But Gaara had already stood up and disappeared out of sight.

"He's fast... is it because he's a trueblood as well?"

"Where were you?" Sasuke asked as Naruto pushed his way through the students in the vampire lounge.

"Busy. Are you feeling better?"

"Much."

"I can tell. What do we have later?"

"P.E. Then History."

"'Kay."

The girls were staring at the vampire boys during gym, drooling all over the basketball court as they showed off their lean, beautiful bodies. Little did they know that these vampires were the same monsters that were ready to kill them at any time and it wasn't their good looks that held them back.

They all thought vampires were holy spirits because they were stunning. They thought plasma packs were the big stuff and their pills were to keep them happy. But the big stuff was pumping through their bodies at the very moment.

Meanwhile, Gai-sensei was busy pulling Neji off a pack of girls, who didn't even realize that the vampire was baring his fangs. It was hard, surrounded by a group of beautiful necks. It was just like holding up a buffet before a man who hadn't eaten in years and wasn't allowed to have a single thing.

"Twenty laps!" Gai-sensei ordered.

"Yes, Gai-sama."

Neji knew very well that his mentor would reward him later on and that his desires would be fulfilled.

It was moments like these Naruto wished Kakashi was a little milder and a little more like Gai-sensei.

Iruka-sensei was Ino's and Shino's mentor. But, then again, anybody who asked him to be his charge would be accepted. Iruka was one of the only mentors who would accept any charge. All the others had their charges assigned to them.

Naruto wouldn't let anyone know, but History actually really interested him. Iruka-sensei was extremely good at turning History into a story and he definitely enjoyed stories. Being it so that he grew up as an orphan, he was extremely intrigued by stories, since he has only heard very few of them.

Sai, on the other hand, was falling asleep next to him. Sasuke was on his right, for once unot/u being the perfect student and not paying any attention at all.

Naruto, who had for the first class in his career of being a student, taken an isle-seat instead of a window-seat and was listening intently until the bell rang.

"Dudes, since it's friday, the guys are heading for Devils Heart, you guys coming along?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sai, who both nodded. "Yeah, sure!"

"'Kay! Be there at eight!"

The three agreed and left the classroom to get ready to head out into town. When it was six, they were all standing at the Main Gates of the school, dressed in outfits that only proved to show off their beautiful bodies and godly muscles more. While Sasuke wore a medium long blue Uchiha coat, Naruto preferred a full-length black leather one underneath which he wore a black T-shirt with flashy blue and orange sprays and prints on it.

The rest of the team was clad in their usual colours, only once again, in clothes that graced their bodies gorgeously. Sai had his arm around Ino's waist, Shikamaru had his flung over Sakura's shoulder, Neji had his in Tenten's hand and Kiba held his arm against Hinata's back, clutching to her as though she were a lifeline.

If Naruto or Sasuke wanted a girl to walk with them, they could have snapped their fingers and had a pack of girls, vampire or human, at their feet, but what was the fun of a guys night out if you were tailed by girls?

After a while of hanging out in town, they all headed for the café called "Devils Heart", known to be a vampire café.

The lights were all dimmed and the only light present was there for decoration. They could all see in the dark, but the neon signs and the glimmering shine from the blue lights around the bar only proved to radiate a relaxing atmosphere.

Vampires were feasting on each other around and on top of the pool tables in the back and the ones actually idrinking/i something all had a beverage that was mixed with blood.

"I'll have a bloody Mary. What you, guys? Pick anything, it's on my tab."

"Thanks, Kiba! Sherry for me, lady."

And the night continued with its festivities until it was nine-thirty and time to head back.

~*~*~ On their way back ~*~*~

They made their way through an alley, only to spot some dude with a green-and-white checked scarf leaning against the wall, looking over to them almost like he expected them.

"What can I do you for, boys?"

"Nuthin', get the fuck away!" Kiba barked at him, making his way over to him tipsily, about to punch him in the face when the man stopped his fist.

Naruto, who was clearly ready for some action, made his way over to the guy as well, kicking him straight in the gut.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up to you later," he told the others.

"A'right, seeee you..later!"

"Yeah, yeah."

He kicked the man in the stomach a couple of times before punching him in the face, laughing as he did so. "You humans are scum!" he cried out to the sky, laughing his ass off.

"Oh, yeah?" the guy coughed, standing up. Naruto eyes spread open wide and he was surprised that someone who had suffered such blows could still stand up. "I was sent.. by Gaara-sama."

Naruto grew curious and he grabbed the man by his scarf before shoving him against the alley-wall. "That so?"

"Yes. You won't be so disappointed by us humans anymore, once.." the man took a deep breath before stretching his arm out to the blonde, unable to finish the sentence.

Naruto grabbed his wrist and pressed his nose against the man's skin, taking in the scent of his blood. "Hmm.. for a man.. you have very sweet blood. Even sweeter than my Mentor's. You're right; you're worth mentioning a few times."

The guy smiled lightly, relaxing slightly upon hearing that. If he was worth it to be mentioned a couple of times, it meant that he wanted him to stay alive. And he eased by that comment slightly. He was shocked to shit, though, when Naruto suddenly released his hand and pushed his head aside, instead, going straight for his neck.

...

"AB.. I've got to remember that one."

The man's body shook as though he'd just seen a ghost and he was still stuck in such a terror that he couldn't find the strength to even think of getting up again.

Naruto knealed back down and stroked the man's cheek lightly. "Yes... I wouldn't mind drinking your blood every day."

And then he left.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

"You're an idiot."

Naruto stopped walking and looked up to gaze at the sole eye of his mentor, leaning against the brick wall of the academy. The huge doors were already shut and locked, but a vampire like himself could easily run up the wall without the help of his hands.

"That so, sir?" the blonde asked, nonchallantly starting the climb up the wall when the older vampire pulled him back down. Naruto turned around, only to get punched in the face by Kakashi. His nose straightened itself automatically and he chuckled, pretending to be emotionally hurt.

"Oh come on, what did I do this time? I just came back a little too late. No big deal, is it?"

"You bit a human, you fucking idiot!" Kakashi hissed. "And not just isome/i human, you bit one of the chosen humans for the Sand Nobles! Do you have any idea how much those things are worth to those vampires? It's like the needle in the haystack, found specifically for them!"

Naruto shrugged. "So another vampire has drunk from his neck, big deal. He's still alive."

"Of course he's still alive, you never kill humans! And it's only because we know you not to, that Tsunade lets you out when the others are out! Never forget that you are a pureblood!"

"So what?"

His mentor slapped him across the face, which resulted in the blonde colliding with the ground from the impact. He just looked up at the more experienced vampire curiously, though. 

"So once iyou/i lose it, only Kami knows what you're capable of destroying! Do you have any idea what this academy strives so hard to improve?"

"The intelligence of vampires and the bond between vampire and human?"

"And the ability to live together in peace!"

Naruto snorted. "Peace. As if you come across that nowadays. Even the humans are turning on each other."

"Don't deflect. You know damn well that biting humans is not allowed. Outside the academy or not."

"What else was I supposed to do? I am, like you said, a pureblood. I need more and better than you guys."

Kakashi sighed bitterly before putting his hand on the back of the blonde's head and making him face his neck before pulling his mask down and revealing his pale neck. Naruto knew very well that he didn't want him looking at his face, but that wasn't a problem at all. The veins he could see extremely clearly were intriguing enough for him to ignore the older vampire's looks completely and pierce his neck with his sharp little fangs.

This was the first time the silverhaired vampire had ever allowed him to drink from his neck, which meant double score for him in one night. Even though that human guy's blood was sweeter than his mentor's, he enjoyed it thoroughly. It was more powerful and mixed in with his own blood easier. It coursed in so quickly and he couldn't get enough of it. It was harder to quit drinking from his Mentor than from a random girl.

He had always been grateful that Kakashi was his Mentor, cos if he had to choose a male Mentor, he would've gone for him straightaway. Even if he gave him less blood and sometimes just ignored him completely and didn't give him any at all, Naruto usually didn't like male blood in the least. Female blood was way sweeter and he really was a sweet-tooth. Kakashi was the only male vampire that he knew of with sweet blood.

His attitude just wasn't the sweetest. But Naruto had to live with that.

The sound of the blood getting swallowed was loud and the Hatake had trouble restraining ihimself/i. It was true that purebloods have better, stronger blood than normal vampires. Every vampire in the school would kill to get some of Naruto's. But they also knew that he had an extremely clean reputation of not letting just anybody suck from his body and that he only gave blood to those that repayed him the favour.

"Your wrist, Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes opened slowly and he brought his arm up to his Mentor's mouth, still not looking at the man's face. If it was one thing he had to hand to Kakashi, it was the fact that he had extremely good, sharp fangs. It hurt when they pierced him, but it was another thing that came with the guy. Don't tell anybody, but Naruto wouldn't have wanted anyone else.

When his Mentor released his arm, he understood that he was supposed to stop as well. With an echoing breath, he pulled his fangs out of the vampire's neck and stepped back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Kakashi's mask was already back up when he looked at his Mentor, who pointed at the wall at said, "Don't let it happen again."

"Yes, sir."

There was still school in the weekends, it just didn't take as long. All their schooldays were short, but they happened every day of the week. Personally, Naruto would way rather have a couple of days off and have longer schooldays, but it was easier this way for the vampires.

Sasuke was away when Naruto woke up and Ino had come knocking at the men's dorm door to ask for Shikamaru. When Naruto managed to drag the black-haired teen out of their room and into the boys' dorm, he listened in on the two.

"Temari hasn't come back last night," Ino told the raven.

"Yeah, Sasuke neither. What do you think they're doing?"

"Well, all I know is that Sasuke-kun doesn't need Temari-chan's blood, so perhaps it's other way around?"

"No. Temari told me she isn't like that. She drunk my blood before and she said that it wasn't as good as the meals she's used to."

Ino chuckled. "Well that was very nice," she remarked, sarcastically.

"It's true, though. I've always known I don't have very good blood. But still, even if I did have good blood, it would never be like what she's used to. You know who her brother is, right?"

"Who?"

"Sabaku no Gaara."

Ino fell silent and Naruto walked over to them, interested.

"You mean that she has been drinking off the blood of those who are meant to be only for the Sand Nobles?"

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru replied. 

"Kakashi-sama. Anyway, I didn't know they were nobles!"

"They are the children of a couple of nobles. Gaara's, Kankurou's and Temari's father is the head of the Sand Nobles. So of course they get the best of the best. They're truebloods, after all."

"I thought Kankurou wasn't a trueblood."

"No, he isn't. Gaara and Temari are, though."

"How is that possible?"

"It happens often enough when trueblood vampires get children. Most of the time, the children are truebloods as well. But sometimes, when the female's body is weak and she hasn't had enough blood for a while, the child can become a halfblood."

"So that's what happened to Kankurou?"

"Probably."

"So what do you think they needed Sasuke for?"

"I don't know, but I don't think Temari wanted a drink. I think the Nobles have other ideas for him."

"Is it because of his gift?"

"Perhaps."

"His gift?" Ino asked.

"Sasuke can go for a long while without blood because he's from the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha clan is therefore stronger and more capable of doing things other vampires can not. His eyes can see even better in the dark and he can see farther than everyone, run faster than everyone, smell more, feel more, and is all in all more talented than most."

"But, since you're a trueblood-"

"I can do all of the above and if I'm stronger, I can do more. But that isn't the point. The point is that they have plans for Sasuke and we need to stop them."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Since Gaara is the only trueblood son, the mission was probably assigned to Gaara specifically. Temari just helped out cos she's his sister. But if I can persuade Gaara not to take Sasuke..."

"How are you gonna pull that off?"

"You know how they always want the best blood there is, right?"

"Well, duh. Else they wouldn't want Sasuke's."

"So if they get mine.."

"But you're already helping out with filling the plasma packs. If you lose any more-"

"I'll just skip it tonight. I've only been to fill the plasma packs once. If I skip the second time, I can survive. You've got to help me get my blood into some kind of container, though."

Ino pulled a disgusted face. "Do you pay any attention at all during Biology? Your blood with coagulate and become thick and crusty. Unless they drink it directly, you'll give them a bloodcookie."

"Ugh, whatever. We'll figure that out later. Shikamaru, get dressed; we're going to find Gaara."

"Gaara!" Naruto called the moment they caught sight of him behind the tree he had been at the other day as well.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he greeted, letting go of the girl's hair he'd had in his grasp earlier. She fell to the ground with a i'thump'/i and Gaara stood up slowly, brushing himself off nonchallantly. 

"Where's Sasuke?"

"Uchiha-san?"

"Yes!"

"I will not lie to you, Uzumaki-san. The higher-ups are interested in him. They believe that they will grow stronger if they drink his blood. I invited him over to see them later."

"Where is he?"

"He should be in town by now. Temari took the car to bring him there."

"Shikamaru, get him."

"He will never catch up to them in time."

Shikamaru nodded and Naruto grinned. "Shikamaru has got the power of his clan behind him. He can run as fast as a deer can. Now, I've got a proposition for you. If you agree upon letting Sasuke go, I'll give you my blood."

"Why would I want your blood?"

"So you can give it to the higher-ups. Isn't a trueblood's blood more valuable than a halfblood's blood?"

"It is. Still, I do not understand why you would do such a thing for a halfblood."

"Sasuke's my friend."

It was silent for a while, until Gaara nodded and sighed weakly. "I shall stop the car myself."

Naruto watched as Gaara disappeared into a cloud of dusty sand and return five seconds later with Sasuke in his arms, pushing him toward the blonde, who caught the raven quickly.

Sasuke, furious Sasuke, turned to face Gaara and punch him in the face. "You bastard! Nobody's getting my blood, you leeching traitor!"

"Relax, Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Naruto has agreed upon giving us his blood instead of yours."

"Huh? Why would you do such a stupid thing, Naruto?"

"Because they just want to become more powerful. They can have my blood, if they want."

"You're not like that! You don't like giving your blood away to just anybody!"

"Well, at least you're still here, right?"

"Very well then, Uzumaki Naruto, hand me your arm."

Naruto chuckled. "What a sentence. That's a funny one; iHand/i me your iarm/i."

"Do it," Gaara growled, pulling out a needle with a little vial attached to it. "I will be able to deliver it to the Higher-ups in time. If they approve of your blood, the Uzumaki clan shall earn a nice title."

Naruto stretched his arm out, muttering, "I don't give a damn about titles."

~*~*~ 16:OO o'clock ~*~*~

The class filed out of the Chemistry lab like a bunch of mice and Naruto waited outside in the hallway for his friend. Sasuke was explaining the deal to Itachi and his Mentor was not in the least bit pleased by the fact that Gaara had managed to nearly-succeed upon drawing some of his Uchiha blood.

Mentors usually just didn't enjoy the knowledge of the fact that their charges don't give blood only to them. They like to believe that they are the only ones who get the nice, young blood.

"Naruto! I've got a plasma pack right here, you wanted one, right?"

"Chouji? You're a life-saver!"

"Huh? Why?"

Naruto grabbed the pack and smiled like a lunatic. "Last time I had to fill three. At least now that's one less!"

"You're just gonna give it to them? That's stupid, Naruto. They won't believe it's yours."

"Why not?"

"You walked in with it."

Silence.

"Well, what if-"

"You're gonna fail."

"And what if I-"

"Nope."

"But what if-"

"Wrong."

"FINE! iDon't/i have faith in me! See if I care."

Sasuke walked out of the class and joined the two.

"Naruto, what're you gonna do about the plasma packs?"

"I've got an idea! You! You go to them with this and tell them I've already filled two others, but you bought one at that exact moment and to make sure that they don't think I only filled two, you came to bring them this one."

"They won't believe me."

"Dude, it's a young vampire nurse that works there. She'll believe you. Trust me."

"And what if Kakashi-sensei is waiting downstairs for you?"

"He won't be."

"Why not?"

"Cos he's not like that. He doesn't care as much as other Mentors do. So come on, chop-chop! Get to it, then!"

Chouji laughed, probably predicting Naruto's failure, but the blonde ignored him completely and went downstairs with his raven friend.

"And what if he does care?" Sasuke asked as the two of them walked through the stoney hallways in the underground part of the school.

Their sneakers clacked and squeeked on the marble stone and the dim lights hanging from the ceiling didn't awaken a warm atmosphere.

"Then he'll catch me. Which he won't; cos he doesn't. So quit worrying about it."

"Of course he'll know what you're trying to do. He's gonna catch us, Naruto. He's not an idiot."

"Why would he waste his time checking up on the trouble maker? Trust me, Sasuke, he's busy feasting on Kurenai-sensei right now."

"Her blood isn't as sweet as everyone thinks, you know."

Naruto and Sasuke froze, turning around slowly to take in the sight of Naruto's Mentor.

"You know, you really need to get a life," Naruto said, feeling terrible and angry at once.

"And you really need to learn how to show respect to your superiors. Especially those who keep you alive."

"You mean those who get me into trouble."

"You get yourself into trouble, Uzumaki, I'm only fulfilling my duty as a teacher in this school."

"Oh come on, you don't even care about the subject you're teaching. Do you even remember what it is?"

"Something scientific. Now keep moving. You're almost there."

Naruto growled despite himself, but obeyed. Sasuke turned from his friend to his friend's Mentor, but decided to give him a quick pat on the shoulder and leave in the end.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, you made it."

"Yeah, I wonder why." Naruto rolled his eyes before glaring at his Mentor, but sat down on the little chair as expected of him and held his arm out.

"Oh?" Shizune gasped. "Isn't this your second time?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It appears there's a needle-hole in your arm over here as well. You're a vampire, right, Uzumaki-kun?"

"Yes."

"So it can't be from any longer than a couple of hours ago or so."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Somebody pierced you with a needle not too long ago."

"Yes. I am aware of that."

"Care to explain what happened, Uzumaki?"

Naruto turned to his Mentor, who had been leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, arms crossed infront of his chest.

"Gaara-san needed my help with something. I gave it to him. That such a bad thing?"

"You gave him blood, I assume, Uzumaki-san?"

"What's your name again?"

"Shizune."

"Well, Shizune, I don't see why this concerns you in the least."

In a flash, his Mentor was standing behind him, pressing his head down and hurting his neck. "I'm sorry, Shizune-san, he's just cranky from the loss of blood."

Shizune smiled apologetically, shoving a needle in Naruto's arm and clicking the button on the little tube. The plasma pack that had already been filled with other fluids now bloated up a little and Naruto's blood mixed with the brown and yellow liquids.

"Are you sleeping well, Uzumaki-san?"

"Yes. I am sleeping very well. Why?"

"You seem tired. You've got bags under your eyes. That doesn't happen often to vampires unless they're stressed."

"Once again, does this concern you at all?"

His head got pushed down even lower than the last time and he groaned.

"My sincerest apologies, Lady Shizune," he ground out through clenched teeth.

"No, it is I who was wrong. I shouldn't have asked such a personal question."

"Indeed you shouldn't have."

Kakashi now whacked him up the head and he sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, Lady Shizune, I don't know what's come over me."

"Uzumaki-san, your eyes, I-I think we should stop."

"Huh? What? What's wrong?"

"The bags underneath your eyes aren't from fatigue. I didn't see them before, but there are veins running through them. That indicates extreme loss of blood or just too little blood coursing through your body, causing it to thin out. Have you been feeding properly?"

"Oh yes, he definitely has," Kakashi answered for him.

"Then whatever happened before physically drained you."

"You say you were helping out Gaara; he's the son of one of the Sand Nobles. If you gave him your blood, I'm sure he drained enough to feed the others in his pack," his Mentor explained.

"Well, yeah. He filled a couple of vials."

"How many, Uzumaki?"

"I dunno, seven or eight."

Kakashi whacked him up the head again. "You imbecile! When you lose as much blood as that, how can you even begin to consider filling up a plasma pack?"

"Hey! I never said I iliked/i doing this! I'm doing this against my will, am I not?"

"I sure hope you are. And you're gonna keep filling up these plasma packs until you've reached your limit."

"Hatake-san, if he loses that much blood, he'll suffer severe pain."

"Good. That was the original intention."

"Aww, you're cruel, Kakashi-sama."

"Get over it, Uzumaki."

Since Naruto kept briefly passing out and pulling the needle out in pain, time passed extremely slowly and it was only eight PM when they left.

Winter was near and it was already dark when Kakashi and Naruto came above ground and Naruto fell to his knees in the Garden of Hope, just like last time. He thought at least his Mentor would go easy on him like last time and give him some blood, but this time the man just sat down and watched him suffer.

He wrapped his arms around his waist and struggled to stay conscious. His body squirmed into every direction and he felt his organs twisting inside of his body. He crawled through the grass, body twisting into other directions without his permission. He felt like a worm, only existing so someone could crush him and he actually wished for it.

"Kill me!" he ordered throatily.

"Not a pleasant thing, is it, extreme blood loss?"

His lower lip quivered and his arms flapped about rambunctiously.

"At least now you understand how your victims feel."

"KILL ME!" the younger vampire howled.

"I would want nothing more. Unfortunately, I'm your Mentor, so I need to make sure you stay alive."

"B-blood then." He tried to get up, but his shivering body crashed back down to the ground, hugging the earth much like a worm would.

"That what you want?" the older male teased.

"YES," he nearly screamed, reaching his arm out to his Mentor pleadingly. "P-please, sir."

Kakashi took the hand that had extended to him and bit his thumb, allowing a droplet of his blood to fall on the blonde's hand. He watched as his charge's bright blue eyes extended and he could see the fastening beat of his heart on his face as he brought his hand to his lips and licked the droplet up quickly.

"K-Kakashi-sama," he begged, voice hoarse and dry.

"You're starving for blood."

Naruto's body started flinging itself in random directions again.

"You're craving for it."

The boy's nails dug into the earth beneath him and his back arched as he cried out in pain.

"You have so little, your heart is too weak to make more."

He pulled at his hair with his one hand as his other clamped around his knee, scratching it as it trembled.

"If you promise to never bite another human again.."

Naruto looked up, hopefully.

"..I will allow you to drink my own."

The blonde dragged his body over to his Mentor with his arms. His legs weren't coöperating and he was having trouble moving himself.

"I...I promise. Please, sir. iPlease/i!" He sounded so pathetic and desperate; it was clear that he was dying. He was about to die within a matter of minutes, actually.

Kakashi took the boy's head in his hands and came a little closer to him, placing Naruto's head on his shoulder and pulling his mask down when the blue eyes couldn't see it.

The older vampire tapped the bitemarks that Naruto had given him before as a sign that he was only allowed to bite him in the same place.

Naruto didn't care about that at all and did as his Mentor wished, but more importantly, as ihe/i wished, and impatiently hooked his fangs into Kakashi's pale neck, drinking from him as though he'd been travelling through the desert for months without a droplet of blood. He had been completely drained thanks to this man and he was planning on making his Mentor go through the same.

When he was sure he'd drunk at least half the blood in his Mentor's body, Kakashi pushed him away and lifted his mask back over his face, only allowing Naruto's eyes to see the bridge of his nose before it covered it completely.

"I assume you've had your fill?"

"It iis/i your fault that I wound up without any, you know."

"It's your own fault that you got yourself into that situation and didn't your kindhearted Mentor just save your life?" He reached out for the blonde's chin and dragged his glassy finger across his jawline. "Be a little more appreciative."

Naruto slapped the vampire's arm away and growled, "You saved it cos you had to. I never gave you that obligation."

"Oh no? I was so sure it was you, begging "please, sir". Or perhaps that was just the after-effect of "Kill me"."

Naruto scowled and cursed himself for acting so weak earlier. "Well, you didn't."

"I didn't because I shouldn't. But the next time you're in such a situation, I will."

"Then do."

The silverhaired vampire grabbed his neck and flung him against the wall, hovering in front of him. "I'm serious, Uzumaki. If you ever bite another human again, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"If I ever bite another human, I'll be too strong for you to kill," Naruto stoically replied.

"I'd watch my words, Uzumaki. You may be a pureblood, but I am still a fullblood."

"I'm a fullblood as well. You're still no match for me once I've drunk pure blood."

"And when do you think that will ever happen?"

"The next time I meet Gaara, perhaps? It can happen at any time."

"Gaara has gotten himself into his own trouble today. And so has Temari. They won't be back at this academy for a while."

"How long?"

"Dunno'. A couple of months, perhaps?"

"Where are they?"

"Probably went back to Sand Village. Back to the matter at hands; I hope it's clear you will never bite a human again."

"Right."

The Mentor grabbed his charge's neck once more and shoved him back against the wall. "You were saying?"

"Yes, sir."

"Better." He released the blonde and waved with his hand in a dismissive fashion. Naruto left as ordered and climbed up the wall to his dorm.

The Next Morning

"This sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks."

"Could you relax? I'm sure it isn't as bad as you imagine."

"Sakura," Sasuke sighed, "he isn't imagining anything. It's the truth. He's stuck in a sucky situation."

The word 'situation' brought Naruto back to the night before and he instantly felt a wave of nausea hit him where it hurts.

"I can't show him this!"

"That's what happens when you don't study," Sakura lectured him.

Naruto swung his reportcard around in his hand, adding to the effect, "I can NOT show him this!"

When the red-plastified document suddenly slipped from his grasp, he gasped and turned to find Kakashi walked by him in the caffeteria with a cup of coffee in his hand. The man didn't even turn around, yet kept walking and flipped the booklet open on his way to the front, where the teachers and Mentors sat.

Naruto's eyes went big and white and he started biting his nails and shaking his friend like a madman. "Aaah!" he shrieked, "I'm doomed! DOOMED, Sasuke, DOOMED!"

"Well, whatever happens, it's too late to change anything now. Look at it from the bright side; at least Sasuke's got good grades!"

Naruto turned to look at Sakura. "How is ithat/i the bright side?"

"Oh. Well, when you look at it like that, I guess that doesn't change anything for you. But it does for me!" She glomped Sasuke from behind, giggling. "Now we're gonna go on vacation together, right, Sasuke-kun?"

"No. I'm going to spend the Summer at my family's in Hiroshima."

"What? But I thought you were staying here; like me!" Naruto accused him, shocked.

"Shoot! I'm going all the way to Iwate! That's like all the way on the other end of Japan!" Sakura complained.

Naruto felt like sinking into a puddle of tears on the floor. "Great. Just perfect."

"Quit whining," Sasuke sighed, getting up. "We've still got two weeks to spend here. I'll give you the pass to get to the Uchiha district and you can come and visit me. So stop complaining."

"You-you'd do that for Naruto? You're so nice, Sasuke-kun!"

"Ugh.." the raven groaned, dragging the rosette along as he tried to get upstairs.

Naruto had to leave his friend behind after Chemistry, since every charge has to talk about their reportcard to his/her Mentor after the lesson he/she gets from him/her. If you don't see your Mentor that day, then you're supposed to talk to them after classes are over. The only good thing you get out of seeing your Mentor sooner, is that you miss a part of the next class or sometimes even the whole next class if your Mentor takes a long time.

Which is why Naruto felt terrible and trapped every time Kakashi looked his way during Biology with that threatening charcoal eye of his. The man just went on with his teachings like any other day, but Naruto could feel the anger pulsing through the guy's veins and he felt it in his chest that there was a huge lecture coming up.

He tried to blend in with the crowd when they all walked out of the classroom, but the name, "Uzumaki" held him nailed to the ground and he wondered why the room suddenly went cold.

A purplish aura swarmed around the silverhaired vampire and Kakashi ordered, "Sit."

Naruto did as requested of him and felt like a tiny bug trapped in a glass when his Mentor's demeaning stare pierced his manlihood and weakened his mental state.

His reportcard slapped down on his sensei's desk and he found himself staring at it to avoid the look in the older male's eye.

"You failed uevery/u subject. Even arts and crafts!"

"Well, in my defence, Konan-sensei isn't very-"

"You failed ENGLISH, JAPANESE and HISTORY."

"Those aren't easy subjects, you know!"

"You got a zero for French and a two for Maths."

"B-but look at the four! The four, Kakashi-sama, the FOUR!"

"And it's for imy/i subject! I wonder; do you pay attention during Biology cos you know I'll kill you if you don't or because you want to make something of your life?"

"... Neither, I do it to make you proud."

"Don't give me that crap!"

"Ewkay," the blonde squeeked, cringing his head down.

"The only subject you didn't fail is Gym! And you got a six for that!"

"Hey! That's just cos Gai-sensei's unreasonable!"

"It says: 'Tone down your attitude.'"

"That's just cos he doesn't like sarcasm."

"I'm sure you were worse than sarcastic to get a six!"

"Fine, so I told him that his outfit is ridiculous and he looks like a clown. And maaaybe I might've told him that if he were a cookie and I were stuck in the desert for months on end, I still wouldn't even consider eating him. And just ivery/i maybe I told him that it's no wonder he doesn't get any girls cos he's gay. But that's all, I swear! Well, besides hiding his gym-clothes in the girls' lockers. But besides that-well, no, that's not true. We played a couple more pranks on him. But besides the pranks, I'm as clean as a cat could be!"

The look of anger on Kakashi's face was so abnormally grand that Naruto could actually feel his blood boil and see the veins that were actually pulsing like mad behind the mop of silver hair.

"Do you understand that the longer you stay here the longer I'm gonna be stuck with you?"

"Well don't think I enjoy that thought!"

"Then why are you doing this to me? You're killing me, you know that? If you fail the schoolyear, that's just another year I'll have to cope with you."

"iI'm/i killing iyou/i? You know that if you'd jump off a cliff-"

"-You wouldn't be bothered, I know. But it goes other way around, too. I really couldn't give a shit about you, or where you wind up in life. All I want is that you get through school so I can personally kick you out. I mean, erm, give you your graduation cap."

Naruto turned to look at Tsunade, who had been listening in at the doorway.

"Tsunade-sama," he greeted, standing and placing a fist on his chest before bowing. Kakashi did the same and she nodded.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I just stopped by to tell you you're going to Summer School cos your grades are way too low."

"SUMMER SCHOOL?"

"Well, since you're staying here all Summer long anyway, I figured you'd rather spend it progressing for next year than sulking over the fact that you're going to redo the schoolyear."

"I'm gonna redo the schoolyear?"

"If you don't go to Summer school."

"Summer school?"

"You're staying here anyways, damn it!"

"Summer school?"

"Kakashi," Tsunade sighed, massaging her temples.

He nodded and whacked the boy up the head.

"Thank you."

"No problem, Tsunade-sama."

"But, but, but, but you can't do that to me!"

"Who can't? I can't? I'm the head of this freakin' school, I can do whatever the hell I want."

"But, but, but, that's just so unfair!"

"Really? I thought I was being nice; giving you a second chance like that. Fine, if you want to redo the schoolyear, then go right ahead and sleep all Summer long."

Naruto groaned. "Fine."

"Now that that's solved, see ya'. Oh yeah, Kakashi, your new charge has arrived."

Naruto looked up, shocked. "What?"

"Naruto, you're getting a new Mentor as well."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Well, Kakashi is getting another charge and you're getting another Mentor."

"Another one or a new one?"

"Aw, you were afraid you were gonna miss me," Kakashi teased him.

Naruto flushed a terrible shade of red. "NO! Why the fuck would I? I was looking forward to getting a new one!"

Tsunade sighed, but moved aside and a boy with straight-cut purplish grey hair stood in the door-opening.

"He's a halfblood, but they say he's a fairly good vampire. His blood's bitter, so watch out."

It was a joke amongst the vampires, one that Naruto honestly never really liked. He didn't think it was funny at all.

"What're you lookin' at, ugly?"

"WHAT?" Naruto yelled. "WHO THE FUCK bARE/b YOU?"

"His name's Sora. He used to stay at the Monks temple. Then a vampire bit him and he was forced to leave."

"Well, nothing is enjoyable nowadays, anyways, is it?" Sora commented.

"Aw, and we all deserve some tea and sympathy," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "So who's my new Mentor?"

"A man called Yamato. His real name's Tenzou, though. He changed it when he became a vampire."

"Why?"

"I know him," Kakashi said, "isn't he the one that used to be a trueblood, but then some kind of oddball drugged him and did something to him that made him human?"

"Yes. Apparently, he changed back into a vampire, though, and then he changed his name as a symbol to start a new life."

"That's stupid."

"'Kay, seriously, I've had enough of this guy!" Naruto anounced. "I dunno' who you think you are, little halfblood punk, but I'm gonna seriously snap your neck if you butt into business that isn't yours any more!"

"Hn. Tough words for an idiot who failed the school year."

"NNGRR!" The blonde was about to flash behind Sora and snap his neck, but just as his hand was wrapped around the other teen's throat, Kakashi had his hand on his wrist and his other hand in his hair, pulling at the blonde spikes.

"Ack! Damn~you!" But he wouldn't let go of Sora's neck, even as his Mentor pulled at his hair even harder.

Whilst Sora was choking, he was losing hairs and he honesly felt like killing the other boy.

"Calm the fuck down, Uzumaki!" Kakashi ordered, digging his nails into the blonde's skin deep enough to draw blood. Naruto instantly let go of the other teen and licked up the blood he'd lost, before Sora could even consider drinking any of his.

"You're a trueblood, aren't you?" Sora asked, rubbing his neck where Naruto's fingers had imprinted upon it.

"What of it?" Naruto grumbled.

"Your blood can make other vampires stronger. You can do things other vampires can not."

"I told you to butt out of business that isn't yours!" 

Kakashi whacked him up the head and he turned around, angrily. "Whaaat? What did I do this time? It's true, isn't it?"

"It certainly is, but it isn't your role to remind him of that."

"Ugh. Fine."

They were about to leave the room when an older brunette vampire suddenly appeared beside Tsunade. He looked like he was just a year or two younger than Kakashi, with deep black pools of eyes that seemed to read right through your soul.

"Hello," he said, voice calm yet thorough and clear.

"Naruto," Tsunade started, "this is Ten-er-."

"Yamato, right?" the blonde said, holding his hand out to the other vampire. "I'm Naruto."

Yamato took the blonde's hand and shook it before bringing it up to his nose and twisting it so he could sniff at his wrist. "They told me you were a Trueblood... Had an accident, did you?"

Naruto looked at Kakashi's nail-marks in his skin. "Yeah, you could say that."

"Alright, I'm gonna leave you to your introductions." Tsunade disappeared from the doorframe and probably appeared in her office the next moment.

Kakashi tossed Naruto's reportcard to Yamato. "I guess this is partly your backache now, too."

Yamato merely chuckled and opened the booklet. Seconds later he was laughing again. "You failed arts and crafts?" he asked, still laughing.

"Ehe he he.." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Let's sit, shall we?"

Kakashi pulled out four chairs and they all sat down like proper little school kids.

There was an awkward silence before Yamato broke it casually. "Sooo.. Naruto, what should I call you? Naru-kun? Naru-chan? Or are you a very Naruto-san-ish person?"

Naruto blushed crimson the moment the older vampire had requested "Naru-chan", but shook it off and replied, "Well, usually I'm referred to as 'UZUMAKI!'."

He had copied the angry tone of his other Mentor and the new one chuckled.

"Really? Well, that isn't very nice."

Kakashi coughed and Sora started his own conversation, "You're the vampire who has drunk the blood of over a thousand other vampires, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And you're the fullblood whose name is known all across the country, right?"

"Yes."

"So why are you teaching here?"

"Yes. I mean, uhm, cos I need a job."

Naruto poked Sora with his elbow and mocked his previous Mentor, stating, "He sucks at it."

Sora snarled at him, though. "Get off me, you filthy idiot."

"I think I like this kid," Kakashi said.

"Riiight. Well, let's start the day. Naru-chan, care to show me to my room?"

"D-wha-ah-uhm-kch-it-why"

"Oh, sorry. I mean; UZUMAKI! That good?"

Naruto wanted to tear the brunette a new asshole, but just said, "Perfect" instead.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Naruto was still upset over the fact that he had to go to Summer school, but he had other things on his mind at the moment. Like how to dispose of that good-for-nothing Sora.

"I like him," Kiba said.

"What?" Naruto howled.

"He hates you. I like him."

"Fuck you, Kiba."

"I love you, too."

"That's not even funny anymore."

"It isn't cos you have to admit you're gay."

"You're the one who said it."

"Yeah, but I've got a girl. What've you got? Sasuke. And a Mentor who calls you Naru-chan."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, DOG-BREATH!"

Kiba made kissy sounds. "Naru-chan, Naru-chan."

"You are SO immature!"

"You gonna' do something about it, then?"

"I'm gonna beat you so hard even Hinata can't recognize you anymore!"

"Come and try it, then!"

Naruto was already behind the dog-lover, chomping on his foot, when Sasuke walked in, looking tired and beaten.

"Sasuke?" Naruto instantly let go of the brunette and walked over to his friend. "You okay? You look like you were run over by a truck... several times."

"Thanks for telling me I look like crap."

"Well, you do."

"Yeah, Sasuke, you look terrible!" Kiba joined in.

"I tried to kill that Sora-guy. Turns out he's stronger than I expected."

"YES!" Naruto smirked. "At least someone agrees the boy's a bitch!"

"Hey, I never said he wasn't. I just said that he hates you, so I like him."

"You like everyone that looks like a dog. That's why you like Kurenai-sensei."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

"It's your dog-breath Mentor that gave me a two for Maths."

"Cos you're a bloody fucking idiot, that's why!"

"Pish posh. She's a bi-"

Sasuke clapped his hand over the blonde's mouth. "Are you itrying/i to kill yourself or are you just a masochist?"

Naruto looked up to see a red glow swarm around Kiba's body as the teen bared his fangs and his nails turned glassy and sharp.

"Alright, alright, I apologize. She's great."

The glow ebbed away and Kiba turned back to normal again. "Damn straight."

"Naaaaruuu-chan!" Yamato suddenly appeared behind the blonde, thumping him on the shoulder harshly.

Naruto nearly tumbled over, but regained composure quickly and turned around. "What is it, Yamato-sama?" he groaned.

"Guess who's your new Geography teacher!"

...

"Naruto? Hm?" Yamato knealed down before the unconscious teen, waving his hand in front of his eyes. "I think he passed out."

"That's alright, I'll drag him to Physics." Sasuke grabbed his friend's foot and shlepped him through the hallway.

It was after the last hour of school that Naruto saw Gaara in the hallway, fixing up his locker. He headed over to the redhead quickly.

"Gaara, what happened when you weren't here?"

"Uzumaki Naruto... quite a blunt question, is it not?"

"What happened?"

"I spent some time with my family." Gaara smacked his locker shut and walked away with some books clutched underneath his arm.

Naruto merely followed him, though. "Gaara, I want to know how you got your hands on that blood without soiling them. Are you in some kind of clan? Can I join?"

"Hmmm.. You certainly are a trueblood.. I suppose you could if I put in a good word for you.."

"Great! Can you?"

"If you do me a favour, I certainly can."

"Sure! What is it?"

"That Sora person sure is annoying, is he not?"

"He definitely is!"

"I want you to get rid of him."

"... As in 'kill'?"

"Kill is a harsh word, is it not?"

Naruto thought he would get annoyed by the way Gaara kept repeating that last part of his sentence, but the way the redhead said it, it only sounded intriguing and it added to his personality.

"Yeah, it is."

"I want you to make sure he never sets another foot into this academy. How you wish to accomplish this, I don't care. Just get rid of him."

"Cos he's annoying?"

"Hm. Because he knows more than he should."

Naruto stopped walking and watched as the Sand Nobles' son walked away with light footsteps.

"Naru-chan, I'm supposed to bring you to the lab, d'you know where it is?"

Naruto turned around, shocked. "Yamato-sama!" he exclaimed, not that he was shocked at all. "Could you iplease/i quit calling me Naru-chan? It's demeaning."

"Sure, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks. Come, I'll show you, sir."

"So, they just suck you dry for the heck of it?"

Kakashi, who was standing in the corner of the room with a little orange book in his hand, didn't say a word.

"No. They do it cos apparently, I did something wrong."

"What'd you do?"

"Oh, some harmless bites here and there – ACK!"

"Sorry, Naruto-san," Shizune apologized, realizing she had shoved the needle in a little too harshly.

"Did it hurt?" Yamato asked, knealing down beside him and running a finger along his arm, watching as the blood drained from his veins.

"Uh, yeah, sorta'."

Yamato looked frustrated and he placed his hand on the area where the blood was draining from, creating a greenish glow on his fingertips.

"Th-that's my-"

"I can adapt to whatever a trueblood's powers are. I see into you with my eyes and I take over your power. That's why they assigned me to you. The problem is, by taking over your healing power, I can feel it as well whenever you are in pain."

"That. Is. Totally. Fucked up."

Yamato merely grinned, though.

Yamato was helping him walk back to the dorms with Kakashi not too far to Naruto's left, still reading his little pocket-book. When the blonde pulled his arm off the brunette's shoulder and coughed like mad on the ground, Kakashi stopped, but didn't help him. Yamato had his hand on his back, making sure he was okay.

"K-Kakashi-sama," the boy begged, crawling over to the other vampire and holding on to the silverhaired man's foot.

The teacher sighed, but knealed down in front of him and bit his wrist through his mask and extended his arm to the blonde, who happily took his Mentor's arm and sucked at the bitemarks. 

He was shocked when he felt Kakashi's hand patting him on the head, curling through his blonde locks affectionately. Was it to show Yamato that he was his and that the brunette vampire had better to back off? Or was it a reward? To show him that he was proud of him for staying loyal to him? Whatever it was, Naruto found he enjoyed the gesture and shut his eyes contently.

"Yamato... this kid is very special."

Naruto was in a too far daze to really catch the conversation.

"I know, Kakashi-senpai."

"No, I don't mean because he's a trueblood vampire. He will not allow random strangers to touch his blood and he will only accept the blood of those he's close enough to. When he is starved, however, he will go to any extent to get a single drop into his system. When that time comes, you must be prepared to stop him."

"Of course, senpai. Don't worry, I won't kill him."

"Oh I'm not worried about that. Of all things, killing him is the toughest."

"He idoes/i seem at peace with you."

Naruto, who was still in a land of ecstacy far, far away, had his eyes shut as he filled his mouth with the sweet taste of his Mentor's blood. 

"He knows me," was the simply answer from said Mentor.

"He might not know me yet, but I'm sure he'll warm up to me quickly, so be prepared for competition, senpai!" Yamato smiled.

"You can get your competition, alright. Don't even consider for a moment I will let the one vampire I am bound to slip through my fingers."

"Really? You seemed so stoic about it before."

"You know what it's like to bond with another vampire. It is impossible not to care."

"And here I was, under the impression you were cold-hearted and cruel."

"I am. I'm just linked to him in a way even I don't understand."

"Aww, that sounds so cute!"

"You sound like a fangirl."

"Fanboys exist too, you know."

"And psycho's exist as well."

"Senpaaai! You're mean!"

Kakashi sighed. "Not another one of those."

Yamato merely laughed, though.

"You ain't got nuthin' on meeee..." Naruto slurred in his sleep, turning around, only to find out he wasn't sleeping in his bed. As fast as lightningbolts could hit the earth, he looked up, into the face of Yamato, who was calmly staring down at him. 

"What-what's going on?" the blonde instantly demanded.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I didn't know where the West Wing was. And Kakashi-senpai said he had something he needed to do, so I thought I could wait here 'till you woke up. Then you looked all cold, laying there on the floor, so I figured I could keep you warm. Was that a stupid thing of me to do? I wasn't really sure."

"YES." The answer was blunt, but the question was dumb, so could you blame the teen? "Yes, yes it was iextremely/i stupid. I'm sixteen, man! Play cool."

"Wait," the second Mentor said when Naruto wanted to crawl out of his grasp, "you've got something over here." He reached over to the blonde's neck and pretended to wipe it off while reaching over and licking at the boy's skin before tearing through it with his fangs. Naruto winced, but felt himself melting into the gesture and the sensation of it all overwhelmed him.

He could hear Yamato chuckle against his throat and he vaguely wondered why. When the brunette vampire released him and wiped at his mouth with his sleeve, he smiled again and pressed his index finger against the blonde's nose.

"I thought you only let those you're close to drink your blood."

Naruto was silent.

"Must mean I'm pretty close to you, huh?"

"N-no! It just means that I trust you enough to not go running off doing stupid things with my blood...sir."

Yamato laughed again. "You're always so formal! With the -sama and the sir and all. Just say Yamato-san."

"I'm sorry, Yamato-sama. I can't do that. It's a rule."

"A rule? Well what a stupid rule that is! Then how 'bout Yamato-sensei? Or taichou! That sounds cool!"

"But you're not my captain."

"So? Taichou's cool!"

"Alright. I guess it wouldn't hurt...taichou."

The brunette squeeled "SO COOL!" in delight.

"Okay, you so iaren't/i the perfect stereotype vampire."

"Does that bother you, then?" Yamato seemed somewhat disturbed.

"Well, kind of, actually. You look like you're on drugs."

"I'm just stuck in the springtime of my youth! Or so Gai-senpai said.."

"DON'T LISTEN TO THAT WRETCHED MAN!"

"Why not?"

"HE. IS. FUCKING. RETARDED."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I'll believe Naru-chan anytime."

The blonde felt like he was totally on the spot again and blushed a dark crimson, trying to clear his throat but failing.

"I-I mean Naruto-kun."

"Thanks."

"No problem Naru-kun!"

Naruto slapped his forehead. "Y'know what, nevermind. Anything's fine, as long as it isn't Naru-chan. Or anything with 'chan' for that matter. I'm not a girl."

"Something in your face gives away 'girl', though. I dunno' what. The eyes, perhaps?"

"I'll have you know blue is a very common colour for eyes!" the blonde snapped.

"Hmmm... then maybe it's the eyelashes? They're so long. And you blush a lot, too. I haven't seen a guy blush as much as you do."

"Wha-ugh, nevermind. Ju-just forget about it." Naruto shoved himself away from his new Mentor and stood up, but Yamato hugged him from behind.

"Can you believe it? This is my first Vampire Bond since what happened all those years ago. I feel.. happy, this time, though. Now I get what Kakashi-senpai meant. This feels really cool."

"Really? I can't feel it. Anymore, I mean. Kakashi-sama was my first Mentor and after you link with your first Mentor, you can never feel that link again. But when I get my own charge, I'll be able to feel it once more."

"Did you like the feeling back then?"

"Yeah, totally. I loved it. It felt like... like I was a part of something greater. Something better. Like I had a meaning, after all. Like somebody iwanted/i me alive."

Yamato put a hand on his head. "Exactly," he said. For once, Naruto didn't mind the physical contact.

"Did you hear?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up into the face of his best friend.

"This new teacher, Yamato something, is gonna be our new Ethics teacher."

Naruto nearly fell out of his chair. "What?"

"What's the matter, Naruto?" Chouji asked, shoving a spoonful of cornflakes into his mouth.

"He probably got into trouble once thanks to that teacher," Shikamaru replied, chomping down on a green apple.

"Or worse?" Sasuke turned to the blonde.

"He-he's my new Mentor!"

There was a gasp all around their table and they gazed at the blue-eyed teenage vampire.

"What? What happened to Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura demanded.

"Why'd you get a new one? Did something happen?" Ino joined in.

"Let the man speak," Shikamaru interrupted.

"Did you kill him?"

The question was so sincere that Naruto gave the raven on his left the You're-An-Idiot look and quickly sipped at his orange juice to clear his throat before continuing.

"Of course I didn't ikill/i him. Why would I kill my own Mentor? I just got a second one, is all."

"A Usecond/u one?" Kiba repeated. "Wow! Well, if that's how it works around here, I want a second one, too!"

"He probably got the second one cos he's a Trueblood," Shino said.

"No, I didn't!"

"He probably did and he's denying it," Sakura giggled and started gossiping with Ino, Tenten and Hinata.

"So what's going to happen now?" Neji asked.

"Nothing's going to happen! I just got a second one."

"And he's your Ethics teacher," Lee said, adding a little dramatic effect to it all.

"I know! It's horrible!"

"So what kind of guy is this Something Yamato? He's kinda' cute," Ino chuckled.

"Ewww!" Tenten disagreed.

"What? He's got nice hair!"

"That I'll give you."

"And his eyes!"

"I'll say!"

"GUYS!" Naruto interrupted them. "He's just a normal dude with a normal life and a normal family."

"You've met his family?"

"No, I just said that-"

"Oh Ehm Gee, he probably has kids! Does he have kids? How old are they?"

"He doesn't have kids-"

"See! He's all worked up; I'm sure he's got children!"

"Would you guys quit talking so fast, I can't keep up," Shikamaru complained.

"So is he funny? Charming? He's sure got the body to play any girl he wants!"

"Sakura, that's just gross, Ino, he doesn't have any children so stop talking about that, Shino, I did not get a second Mentor cos I'm a Trueblood, and if you would all just shut up, I could tell you why Kakashi-sama needed more time."

"More time?" Lee repeated.

"Yes. He needed more time cos there's this new kid-"

"New kid? There's a new kid?"

"SHUT UP! So there's this new kid, and-"

"Is it a boy or a girl? Is he cute?"

"Okay, seriously? How the fuck should iI/I know if a guy is cute or not?"

"So it's a guy?"

"Yeah, it's a guy."

"What colour eyes does he have?"

"For fuck's sake, the first thing I look at is not what colour eyes the dude has, and he's stupid!"

"Alright, alright, so is the kid a Trueblood?"

Naruto groaned. "Can we get back to the matter at hands? Yamato-sama is gonna be my teacher at TWO subjects!"

"Huh? Which other one?"

"Geography."

Everyone fell silent. Nobody said a word for at least two minutes, until Kiba said, "Well that sucks."

"I know it does. And he squeels. He's like a fangirl, only the male version."

"Sounds like my best friend!" Sakura laughed.

"Hey!" Ino wailed, poking Sakura in the ribs.

Naruto ploffed his head down on the table. "Great," he groaned.

"Naru-kun?"

The blonde didn't react, under the impression that if he would just close his eyes and shut up, the man would go away. Which he didn't.

Everyone else was silent like a swarm of fish in a bowl, watching from behind the glass.

Yamato nudged his shoulder. "Naru-kun, you'd better eat well, you're getting weak."

Still no reaction.

"Naruto-kun?" he bent down beside the blonde and placed his tray inbetween Sasuke and Naruto on the bench. Gently, he jabbed the teen's face and prodded at his cheek. The whiskered vampire couldn't stand it anymore and moaned as he pulled himself upright.

"What's the matter, Yamato-sama?"

"You're getting weak, you'd better feed well."

"Huh? No, I'm always like this."

"Then you're never satisfied."

The brunette's dark ash eyes seemed worried and his eyebrows pulled together a little. He was obviously disturbed.

Sakura, Ino and Tenten couldn't withhold their "Kyaaa~'s" and only proved to put Naruto on the spot even more.

"I'm fine, Yamato-taichou. Thank you for your concern."

"He called him taichou," Tenten said, causing little pink hearts to appear in Sakura's and Ino's eyes.

Yamato looked at the girls confusedly and innocently, before smiling and stretching out a hand to them. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "how rude of me. You have to forgive me; I'm new to the job. My name is Yamato, but you can call me Yamato-taichou."

"Y-yes, Yamato-taichou," Ino replied, hand shaking rambunctiously from the energy coursing through Yamato's arm as he hyperactively greeted the bleach-blonde vampire girl.

He shook each girl's hand with a big smile before turning to the boys and waving his hand shortly. "You guys can call me Yamato-taichou, too."

"But you're not our captain," Chouji replied.

"He doesn't need to be! Taichou's so cool!" Tenten cried.

Yamato turned back to face the blonde who was still in shock of it all. "Naru-kun, if you ever feel weak again, you can come to me, okay?"

Naruto nodded, unable to speak.

"I know you like senpai's blood more, but you might like mine, too. So, uhm.. Study hard and feel the springtime of youth! Or something like that.."

Lee's eyes were big and shining and he clasped his hands together as he stared at Yamato as though he were a statue made of gold. "That was wonderful, Yamato-taichou!"

"Really?" Yamato scratched at his cheek shyly. "Thank you."

The other guys were all quiet, though, as the brunette teacher walked away after patting the blonde's head quickly.

"Your new Mentor is so adorable!" Sakura giggled.

"I haaaaaaate Biology..." Naruto whined, hanging his head as he shlepped his feet to the Biology classroom.

"That's just cos you've got to pay attention. Haven't we gone over this before?" Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, but, I mean, come to think about it, Yamato-taichou is like waaaay nicer to me than Kakashi-sama. D'you have an idea why?"

"Cos he's new and young and unprepared for the job?"

"Myeah, I guess... but Kakashi-sama is young, too, and I'm not so sure if he's prepared for the job himself. I mean, you can't call what he does 'teaching'; he doesn't even understand the subject himself!"

"Listen, Naruto, all I know about Mentors is that you stick to them, or you'll get yourself into trouble. Whatever you think about him, don't tell him, ior/i Yamato-sensei. It's none of their business what you think about the other."

"And why's that?"

"Because you'll only get yourself into a sticky situation. Look, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei is the first Mentor you've bonded with, right?"

"Right."

"So, if you break that bond, how do you think you'll feel afterwards?"

"I'm not talking about breaking anything, Sasuke, I'm just talking about Yamato-taichou and how he's much nicer to me than he is."

"I guess that depends upon what you think of 'nice'."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for all I know, it wasn't Yamato-sensei who saved you or got you out of trouble every time you made a mess of things. And it wasn't Yamato-sensei who made you study more when your grades got pulled down. It also wasn't Yamato-sensei that time when we were four and you were crying after killing a human by accident."

"Sssht! Keep your voice down!" Naruto whispered venomously. "And besides, it's not like he was my Mentor back then. And what did he do, anyway? He got rid of the body and left."

"He hushed you and made you stop crying before giving you his scarf to blow your nose in and he disposed of the body when we were both at my house. He even came back to the house to make sure you were okay and if you had enough blood."

"You're lying. He didn't do all that!"

"You just don't remember. You're much denser than I am."

"Maybe I'm not as smart as you, but I'm not forgetful."

"Don't fool yourself. You even forgot your own last name once."

"It was a Math exam and I was stressing out!"

"You still forgot your own name."

"Pshaw. You forgot what you had for lunch yesterday."

"No I didn't."

"Then tell me what you had!"

"I had a sandwich."

"With what in it?"

"Don't be childish."

"Tell meeee what waaas in theeee sandwiiich."

"Tomato, letuce, cucumber, salad, carrots, mayo, ham and cheese. Happy?"

"Ewww."

"Don't complain."

"Yuck. You like mayo? That's disgusting."

"You like ketchup. Now ithat's/i disgusting," Sasuke replied as they entered the classroom.

"No, ketchup looks like blood and it's sweet."

"It doesn't look like blood at all and sweet things are repulsive."

"You just aren't a sweet-tooth."

"And you sure as hell are."

"Would the sweet-tooth and the ketchup-hater be silent and have a seat?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry sensei."

The whole lesson long Sasuke and Naruto were whispering to each-other again as Kakashi tried to shut them up, but failed. He couldn't harm Naruto anymore, since he was already going to Summer-school, and he didn't bother making the raven go to detention, cos there was no point, since the vacation was right around the corner. All in all the whole classroom was hyping up and chit-chatter and laughter boomed against the white-painted walls.

After class, Naruto had tried to make his way to the men's dorms as fast as he could, so as to avoid the man who supposedly meant something to him, but said man stopped him at the doorway and made him come in again and shut the door behind himself.

"Yes, Kakashi-sama?" Naruto asked.

"Your decision. It still isn't valid yet. Do you want to go Summer School or do the year over?"

"I thought I ihad/i to go to Summer School?"

"It is your choice. Now make it."

"I'll go to Summer School."

"Okay."

Kakashi scratched something on a document with his pen and Naruto shifted his weight from foot to foot anxiously.

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kakashi looked up from the paper and gave him a long, analyzing look. "Unless there is something you wish to tell me?"

"N-no!" the blonde quickly replied, turning to face the door. "I just thought you heard something besides sandwich-talk before, that's all!"

"Oh?"

"I-I mean, we were talking about, about going to see a- a movie!"

"Lying to your Mentor is harder than lying to just some random person. Did you know that?"

Naruto swallowed.

When the silverhaired vampire walked over to him, he felt like he was being swallowed by a million crocodiles at once, who were shoving their teeth into his skin and wrapping their tongues around his legs so he couldn't get away.

"Now why would you want to see a movie when you know the only movie theatre around is fifty miles away?" Kakashi asked, taking a lock of the teen's hair between his thumb and index finger.

"Well, I, I figured that since we've only got little time left with each-other until the vacation begins, we should do something together.."

"You're not like that."

"Who says I'm not?"

"I do."

"Well, well then you're wrong!"

"This Yamato... You'd rather have him as your Mentor than me, right?"

"What?"

"Just tell me the truth, Naruto. I can hear it in your voice when you're lying. Don't forget that those lips are the ones that took my blood from me. It's still coursing through you."

"I.. He's nicer to me than you are." He just threw it all out, it was getting hard to lie to his Mentor, anyway.

"Really?"

"Well, he is if what Sasuke said was a lie. Well, I mean, of course it is, don't worry, I won't let him spread it around. I know you're different than that, so you don't have to worry about it-"

"Would you just tell me what he said?"

"Well, he told me about the night when I was four.."

"The first time you consciously killed someone."

"Yeah. And well, he told me what iyou/i did."

"And you think it's a lie?"

"...Yes."

"Well, as a matter of fact, I idid/i hear what he said, and it isn't a lie."

There was silence on Naruto's behalf and he simply stared at the window behind his Mentor for a while.

"Does it displease you?"

"Well, no, I just didn't think you really did that."

"I threw away my scarf after that, though."

"So... but why were you there?" The question was out the moment he considered it. "Why were you there the night I killed that person?"

"A fluke."

"Oh.. I though, maybe... ah, nevermind." Naruto wanted to open the door, but his Mentor grabbed him and turned him around, pressing his back against the door and pinning his wrists against it with his hands.

"You thought what?"

"I thought.. that you might, you know.. know more about.. about my past."

"I do."

"You- you do?"

"Naruto, I am your Mentor."

"So? Normally Mentors don't kno-"

"I read through your files."

"My files? You've got my files?"

"I really don't like repeating myself."

"Well yeah, but still..."

"If you mean your family, I ido/i know more about them."

The blonde's bright blue eyes flickered and he stared at his Mentor intently. In that moment, he looked more like a vampire than Kakashi had ever seen him. Everything happened so quickly; at one moment, the teen's hand was on the teacher's chest and the next Kakashi was on the ground, looking up at the Trueblood's face.

"Who were they?" he growled.

"They made me promise not to tell you."

"They don't care, now tell me!"

"Really? You wish to soil their names by ignoring their dying wish?"

"They...They're dead?"

Kakashi couldn't understand this; the boy's voice was hopeful. It wasn't sad or grim or anything in that genre at all. He seemed more pleased than someone would when they found out their long-lost parents are alive.

"Are they?"

"Yes."

The blonde released him and sat back, covering his right eye with his hand and clutching his hair with the same hand. He was laughing.

"You're happy."

"I am! They didn't abandon me!" There was a broad smile on the vampire's dark lips.

"They didn't."

"So how did they die?"

"I can't tell you."

"TELL ME."

"I can't tell you, Uzumaki."

"You know! You know why my last name is Uzumaki, you know who my parents were, you know why I'm here! You know why they're dead! You're the one who knows and you never told me shit! I've been looking for these answers for a fuckload of time and you've had them all along!"

"I have. And I cannot tell you. Because it would crush you."

"Why the fuck would it? What happened to them? Tell me, Kakashi!"

The blonde had his balled fists clutched tightly around Kakashi's black top and the silverhaired vampire shoved the blonde off of himself and switched positions with him, before snarling, "Kakashi-isama/i."

Naruto's bright blues turned to dull greys and he slid out from underneath his Mentor's grasp. It was like this in his life. He was constantly bound by rules. Rules nobody held themselves to, but he did. He did, because he wasn't as good as all the rest. It was like they needed to tame him. Like he was a ravaging beast.

It was almost like Kakashi could sense his despair, cos he could suddenly smell the scent of his Mentor's blood extremely close to his face and saw the other Vampire's wrist, stretched out to him. It was hard, extremely hard, but he knew it would hurt more if he denied Kakashi's blood just like Kakashi had denied him the information. So he just stood up and left.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

"Here. Don't lose it, you idiot."

Naruto took the plastified pass Sasuke had just given him so he could get into the Uchiha District and gazed down at it. "I can't believe I'm stuck here for six weeks."

"Just get out as fast as you can. Maybe you'll get a week or so to visit Hiroshima."

"I'll try." There was clear hopelessness in Naruto's voice, though, and the gang could tell he was really upset over the fact that they were all going to spend time with their families while he was stuck in this big academy.

"Naruto," Sakura sweetly said, handing him a little box, "I bought you this so you wouldn't feel alone."

Naruto opened the box, to find a little medal. He opened it and saw a picture of the whole gang, one half on the left side and one half on the right. Half of his body was on the left and half was on the right, cos the picture was torn in two so it could fit.

"Thanks, Sakura!"

He was much happier now and when everyone left in seperate cars with seperate parents who came to collect them and ask them about their grades and classes and teachers and friends and rooms and all that, he just smiled and watched them all go. One by one, they left him there.

Sasuke was the last to go, since Itachi still had to gather some things in his classroom. When he came out and unlocked the door to their limo, Sasuke grinned at Naruto as a last goodbye and Naruto punched his shoulder playfully.

"Don't kill yourself," Sasuke said.

"Don't kill your brother," Naruto returned.

"Are you ready, Sasuke?"

"Yes, Itachi-sama."

"Just Itachi now."

And Naruto watched as his last and best friend left as well. The black limo that rolled down the rocky road made little noise and he had to pin his ears on the sound to get it clear.

"Naru-kun?"

Naruto turned around, shocked. "You-you're still here?"

"Yes. I've got a little appartment, but this academy is much cosier and warmer, don't you think?" Yamato asked.

"I wouldn't know.."

"Come. Let's go inside, it's cold out here."

"It's so weird. We call it Summer Vacation, but it's actually Winter."

"Cos you're vampires. The humans call it the Christmas Holidays. You guys call it Summer Vacation cos you can go out during the day most of the time."

"I won't be.."

"N'aw, come on, cheer up. If you keep it up the whole time, I'll let you drink my blood on the last day."

"I'm sure I won't be missing out on anything if I don't."

"But I'm sure you're shaking to know what it tastes like."

"Nah."

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"No, it doesn't."

"What's up? You're all gloomy."

"Am I..?"

"Yup. Oh, I know! You miss your buddies!"

"Buddies?"

"Yeah, your friends!"

"Right."

"Well come on in, then! I'm sure you'll be happy to hear you're not the only one who's left here."

"Who else is?"

"Well, Kakashi-senpai is still here cos he's got to help with teaching the ones who stay here, and Sora-kun is here, too!"

"THAT BASTARD?"

"Huh?"

"I SWEAR IF THERE'S ONE THING I COULD WIPE OFF THIS EARTH TO NEVER RETURN, IT WOULD BE HIM! No, I did NOT say the problem of our ozone layer, or nuclear energy or the filth in our air! I said HIM!"

"Alright, alright, so you don't like him."

"I think it's a little more than that!"

"Well, I think you should lay more eggs in your basket. Try to accept him for who he is."

"Didn't you see him? He's like my opposite! He can't even last five minutes without insulting somebody! How can you ask of me to iaccept/i him?"

"Well, if you try, I'm sure it'll get you bonus points or something like that."

"Bonus points? Sorry, Yamato-taichou, but it doesn't work that way around here."

"But I'm sure you'll get rewarded for it in some way."

"Karma-lover much?"

"Well, I ido/i believe in new chances and trying your best to accept something you'd rather not."

"That's right... you... you used to be human for a while, isn't that true?"

"Yes, it is."

"So... It didn't work out, did it?"

"Nope."

"Kakashi-sama said some freaky dude did it to you during some experiment. Who was it?"

"Naru-kun, you shouldn't worry about things you needn't worry about!" Yamato replied, smiling brightly. "Why don't you focus on getting good grades during the vacation for now?"

"Yamato-taichou.." Naruto muttered as his second Mentor started walking away.

The brunette turned around. "Hm?"

"You..I.. I'm looking forward to tasting your blood at the end of the chrismas holidays."

Yamato smiled, but didn't say anything as Naruto quickly walked by him and made his way into the academy as fast as he could, so as to hide away further suspicion of his kindness. He didn't want Yamato to know he felt bad for him. He didn't want him to know, because he also understood that vampires usually don't like it when people feel bad for them about anything.

Once upstairs in the Men's Dorm, Naruto stood as still as a board, almost as though he were paralyzed. There was a girl.. in the vampire's West Wing... A human girl. Standing at his bed. It took a while before he noticed, but he then saw the two bitemarks in her neck and realized they were his.

"So, Sora, you are aware that you are not allowed to bite a human, not even outside the academy walls, once you sign this contract? If you do, we will punish you severely, and do not even hesitate to believe it will be fysically and mentally painful. You will go through excruitiating madness and you will lose all hope of getting a degree or studying another subject. Which means you will probably get nowhere in life. However, when the school-days are over, you are allowed to do as you please, but be aware that the police will capture you if you try anything stupid. We are to remind you that there are banquets in certain districts of Japan as well. Furthermore, if you hadn't noticed yet, we sell plasma-packs in the school and every vampire student receives three boxes of blood-pills for free at the start of the semester. You can buy more at the Front-Desk. Any questions?"

"Can I buy any real blood anywhere?"

"You can buy vampire blood."

"I heard Uzumaki Naruto is filling plasma packs. Can I buy his blood?"

"...You can."

"That's all, thank you."

"Alright, sign here. And here. Now here. And finally; here. You are free to settle into your dorm in the West Wing. Oh, and, let it be clear that you are not allowed to go the East Wing and you are not allowed to visit the Human Corridors, either."

"Yes, m'am."

"Very well, then."

Sora quickly bowed and thumped his fist on his chest, waiting for Tsunade's headnod so he could leave. He slowly shut the door behind himself when she did, and headed straight for the lab in the underground, bills and coins hot and ready in his pocket.

"Yes?"

"Uzumaki Naruto..." the brunette human said, voice soft, yet thorough. She turned around and Naruto could see her one eye was covered behind an eye-patch. "You..cursed me."

"Huh?"

"I can not live like this."

"What are you talking about?"

"Kakashi-senpai, are these ireally/i his tests?"

"They are."

"Really? He's rather dumb, isn't he?"

"Rather? I think that's a very nice way to say it."

"Hahaha! Senpai sure isn't nice to Naruto-kun, is he?"

"Ah, so you're the one who put him on the line of thought."

"Excuse me?"

"He came to me the other day, telling me you were nicer to him than I am."

"I can assure you I had nothing to do with that. But if he said it, it must be the truth. And that's pretty cool, since I don't know him as long as you do."

"You're proud of yourself, aren't you?"

"I sure am!"

"Hm." Kakashi lightly smirked behind his mask. "Here, mister niceguy." He handed Yamato another stack of failed Math-tests. "I'm sure your lovely charge shall please you again."

"Aaaagh!" Yamato groaned.

"You cursed me the day you put those fangs into my skin."

"What're you going on about? Did I hurt you?"

She slowly reached up to pull the eyepatch off. Naruto stepped back in horror and pure shock. The white of her right eye was a greyish black and the iris was silver. Inside of the silver lining was a darker black which indicated the pupil.

"What-what is that?"

"You failed to turn me into a vampire. Now I am cursed."

"That isn't supposed to happen! What's wrong with your eye?"

"It improved. Yet it is causing me a huge strain on my body. I can see what you see, but I do not have the power and strength inside of me, the power a human has, to control it. You must turn me into a vampire."

Naruto was actually amazed by the way she stayed so calm and explained things to him without getting hysterical. She wasn't crying and she wasn't hitting him with this new power of hers. She was just standing there, talking like a normal...human being.

"I'll help you. I'll do anything I can. Please, I didn't mean to do that to you!"

"Don't talk like that. You were different the day you bit me."

"I was different, because-"

"Because my blood intimidated you. So what now? You don't want my blood anymore?"

"No, that's not it, I just-"

"Then turn me into a vampire. Take my blood into your body and give me yours."

"Shouldn't we go to Tsunade-sama first?"

"You'll get expelled if we do."

"But I'll get expelled if I turn you into a vampire, as well!"

"She doesn't have to find out." Suddenly, her voice was hollow and gasping. "Please!" she cried, clinging to his body. "Please, just end the pain!"

Naruto couldn't stand the guilt anymore and bent over with her in his arms. He gently pulled some strands of hair out of her face and used his healing powers to ease her mind. Slowly, he dragged the soft parts of his fangs over her skin and smiled as she did, baring his teeth and letting her wait in anticipation, before fluttering his lips and going straight for her throat.

"Senpaaaai," Yamato groaned, stretching out and cracked his back. "Let's take a break! His stupidity is tiring me out!"

"Alright. Very well."

"You know, I've always wanted to see the whole building!"

"Then see it tomorrow. You've got six weeks to go sight-seeing as much as you want."

"But I want to see it noooow."

"How old are you? Three?"

"Just show me around, I swear I'll teach him Geography and Ethics like no teacher can!"

"Fine. If you can bring his grade up five points, I'll show you around."

"Five?"

"Make it six."

"SIX?"

"You wanna go seven?"

"No, no.. six is good."

"Let's go then."

Satisfied and whistling, Sora walked through the underground with a plasma-pack underneath his arm. He was saving it to see the look on Naruto's face when he realized he was drinking his blood through a tube as though it were a cocktail with a straw. He decided he would make the desired "aahhh" sound as he finished it and grinned mischievously as he saw Naruto going crazy inside his head.

"This is the West Wing. That's where the vampire guys stay."

"Naruto stays here, too?"

"Yes."

"Which room number?"

"Two twenty-eight."

"Senpai, how is it you know the number so well? Do you visit him often?" Yamato was trying to make the silverhaired vampire blush, or at least ireact/i, but he just shook his head.

"No, not at all, actually."

"Do you think he's inside?"

"Perhaps."

"Let's go in!" Yamato chimed.

Kakashi sighed and covered his eye in shame. "You really are weird."

Sora was on his way outside when he was suddenly stopped by a boy with reddish brown hair and sparkling dark green eyes. He thought it was a vampire, but the boy eyed the plasma pack and then seemed somewhat disgusted, so he figured he wasn't. The boy stopped in front of him and handed him an envelope.

"I was to give you this," he said, before walking away again.

Naruto's teeth were just a fraction of a milimeter away from the girl's beautiful, smooth, pale neck, when he suddenly felt an extremely painful impact on his chest and he smacked against the wall on the other side of the room. He opened his eyes to find Kakashi still in the stance he was when he'd flung him across the room, and Yamato at the girl's side, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I told you..." the silverhaired vampire spoke up, straightening himself again, "that I wouldn't hesitate to kill you, if you ever bit another human being. Those words were not truthful enough for you? Did you not believe me?"

"She needed my help," Naruto replied, words bitter and venomous, almost as though he was actually disappointed that he couldn't turn her into a vampire.

"Your ihelp/i? So this isn't about you and your oh-so-unquenchable hunger, then?"

"No, it isn't. It's about her and her curse. The curse I gave her. Take a look at her eye, if you don't believe me."

"Kakashi-senpai, it's true. Though I wouldn't call it a curse. She's one of the ones who turn themselves into vampires when they are bitten and are too weak to remain human."

"Then do it," Kakashi replied.

"No!" Naruto growled, making his way over to her, "you can not! iI/i must do this!"

But his first Mentor already had his forearm against his throat and he was smacked right back against the wall. "What, you think it's ifun/i to turn humans into vampires? Is that it?"

"No." Naruto didn't want to admit that he wanted to know what it felt like, and that he wanted to know if he would bond with this girl or not. He, himself, had never been turned into a vampire, for he is a pureblood. But this girl... Perhaps he could feel what she felt when his blood coursed through her veins.

"Come," Kakashi ordered, tightly wrapping his fingers around his charges upper arm and dragging him out of the room against the blonde's will.

"No!" the girl shrieked. "Let him! I need the one that marked me!"

"You don't need anything of the sort. Don't talk about things you don't even understand. Yamato can turn you into a vampire just as well. If that life seems more glamorous to you, then, by all means, turn into one of us, so you can suffer the same pain we do. Grow to live to a certain age and then seize to live a normal life, just so you can go through eternity with a pack of monsters. If that is what you want, then allow Yamato to assist you."

"I do not want this... but I must. I cannot live like this!"

"You sure as hell can, you're just too ashamed to show your friends that eye. If it's the fucking eye you're worried about, then I'm sure Yamato can heal it for you. And if it's the bond you worry about, you and Naruto don't have it yet. You can go on with your normal, human life. You don't need to do this at all."

"I want this," she replied.

Kakashi sighed. "Then go right ahead. Uzumaki," he inquired his head to the door and pulled the blonde along again.

Once the older vampire shut the door behind himself, Naruto jerked himself away from his Mentor and glared at him. "Why?" he demanded.

"Becoming a vampire is not a pretty thing. You don't want to see it."

"How would you know? She was supposed to be changed by me!"

"You sound like an infant. Grow up, Uzumaki. And learn to respect your Mentor's demands."

"If I am to grow up, then I must learn how to turn a human into a vampire."

"No, you mustn't. This is not some basic skill you need to learn."

"Then at least I should help her in some way. Or jus! It's my fault she's in this situation, after all."

"Yamato will take care of it."

"But what if something happens? What if something goes wrong?"

"Naruto," Kakashi sighed, "this is not something you want to see."

"How would you know?"

"I know. That's enough."

"You can't possibly know what I want and don't want to see. Oh and, by the way, I want to see this."

"Well, you know what they say; curiosity killed the rat."

"Isn't it the cat?"

"It certainly is. I just figured the rat suited you more. Now get moving, Uzumaki. It's about time you went to Math."

"Kakashi-sama..."

"Hm?"

"You called be 'Naruto', before."

Naruto was already walking away when Kakashi was making up some kind of excuse.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

The school was dark these days, except for a couple of classrooms which were still in use of other students who had to stay here during the winter. Most of the students were human and therefore not friends of Naruto's.

A little girl with pale lavender eyes and straight, medium-length brown hair, walked by Naruto, accompanied by another girl, with bright ginger hair in two high pigtails and common black eyes. Naruto could tell the second girl wasn't a vampire, but the first one was.

It was proof that this school really served its purpose with the younger students. Humans and vampires lived together, went to class together, ate their meals together, studied together, laughed together, cried together... it was almost like all this was done for the ivampires/i, so ithey/i could get a new chance at life, so they could be with the humans as though they were one of them. But in reality, it was all for the humans, because even though they didn't know who was a vampire and who wasn't, they too, could tell it was safe here. And once they trusted the vamps, those vampires wanted to please the humans and prove them that their trust was right and perfectly sane by not harming them.

Naruto didn't like this idea, though, since he knew very well that the vampires were stronger than the humans and that they could easily rule over them.

"Dirty beasts, they call us," he muttered to himself, "well, they're worse, since they're trying to play the role of 'innocent, fragile, harmless beings', while labeling us and setting us apart, like iwe're/i the evil ones."

"Naruto."

The blonde turned his head around to face a teen with reddish cocoa hair and spruce green eyes. He'd never seen this boy around before and hadn't a clue who he was.

"That's your name, right?" the boy asked.

His teeth weren't so sharp and he didn't have any fangs. Naruto couldn't detect any other signs of vampirism. If he had any hunger at all, the other teen sure did a heck of a good job consealing it.

"Yeah." Naruto looked the boy up and down. He was also wearing the school uniform, only with the tie. Naruto had tossed the tie out the window at the beginning of the school-year, well aware of the fact that he would just screw it up and make a huge fool of himself.

"I'm supposed to be your student or something."

"Huh? No, I think you made a mistake. I think you're looking for Naruko. She's a Math teacher, I think."

"No, they specifically told me "NaruTo". You're kind of young to be a teacher, aren't you?"

"Who's this 'they' you were talking about?" Naruto easily changed subjects.

"The head of the school; Tsunade-sama."

"Ah, yes. She made a mistake. No worries, she does that often enough."

Suddenly, the boy burst out into hysterical laughter. Naruto pulled his eyebrows together questionably. "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry," the boy whiped away a tear of joy, "my joke went a little too far. I knew you were a vampire and I couldn't resist."

Naruto just stared at the boy for a while, before clearing his throat and trying to get the picture straight.

"Dude, who bare/b you?" he asked.

"Ah-sorry! My name's Korugo Mitaku, but you can just call me Miku. You're Uzumaki, right?"

"Yeah. So, if you know I'm a vampire, why are you hanging out with me?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it 'hanging out', more standing around with the first friendly face I see here."

"Wait-you're new?"

"Huh? No, no, I mean, you don't look as sour and depressed as everyone else; just a little ticked off."

"Right... so you aren't afraid of vampires?"

"No. Why should I be? If I were, I wouldn't have come to this school."

"Well, the school's got a prestiguous name for the department of medical care. I figure loads of people come here for that."

"Well, yeah, that too. I'm studying to become a surgeon."

"Lovely."

"Something the matter?"

"Hm? No, nothing. Anyway, we should get going. Dutch first, right?"

"Oh, that's right... we've all got the same schedule."

"We do, cos we're the same age. The younger or older ones have a different schedule."

"So... okay, I don't wanna be all up in your face about it, but the chicks dig it and they say that's how they see who's a vampire and who isn't, so... is it true vampires are... you know, better looking?"

Naruto turned his head to face Mitaku and answered with a simple, "yes".

Miku smiled.

"Hmm?" Naruto hummed, interested and kind of afraid that this person would ask him to turn him into a vampire just to look better. Cos this boy definitely didn't need it.

"Well, the girls keep asking me if I'm a vampire." Miku's grin broadened.

"Maybe cos you always look hungry?"

"Hungry? Do I? I suppose I am."

"Well, lunch is in two more periods, can you still you hunger 'till then?"

"Hm... Don't cry before you try, I guess."

"What's that?"

"A saying, I made it up myself."

"I hate it."

Instead of stopping and leaving the blonde alone, he laughed and headed to Dutch class with him. "Great," he muttered, "Dutch. Urgh! The only thing I know how to say is, 'hello, my name's Miku'."

"It's a start," Naruto sighed, stretching as they entered the too-big classroom for just eight people.

"Get to your seat, you're late!" Ebisu-sensei demanded.

After Dutch, they headed straight for Geography. Naruto took a seat in the back somewhere, afraid that Yamato might see him and burst out into jovial hyperactivity.

But when the lesson started, the brownhaired teacher just gave the course exactly according to the book, never once looking at him.

Naruto followed the movement of his Mentor's hand on the black-board with his eyes and was surprised by how neat and clear Yamato's handwriting was. It was nice and straight, in opposition to the lazy slant handwriting of most of the other teachers, who had already given up on such details. Then again, Yamato was new. Naruto was sure the man would give this up in just two months.

It was in the last five minutes of class that he had gotten tired of being ignored. He listened well to what his Mentor asked the class and made sure his hand was the first to shoot upwards in the air and waved it a little to catch Yamato's attention. The man only went ahead and allowed Satori to answer, though.

When Satori answered wrong, he furiously shook his hand to grab his teacher's attention. What was wrong with Yamato, anyway? He wasn't bouncy or pouty or overly happy at all! Instead he was a serious kind of content.

"Yamato-taichou," he said, grabbing the attention of his Mentor's dark brown eyes, "it's in Cuba."

When Yamato was silent and gazed at him with strict politeness and a bit of irritation and frustration, Naruto sunk back in his chair and mumbled, "Matanzas, I mean... It's in Cuba.."

"I know, Naruto-kun. Raise your hand and wait for my permission before you answer next time." Yamato's voice was so calm and warm that it actually made the blonde feel out of place.

Naruto's heart clenched at what he'd said and he felt like a kicked puppy. iFuck him,/i he thought, angry over his emotions. If any other teacher would've said it, he would've just shrugged it off or quickly apologized before resuming his previous occupation. But now, for some reason, he felt like crap. He didn't even feel this way when Kakashi scolded or lectured him. He felt like he disappointed uhimself/u, like he was unable to just be like everyone else and that that was the worst thing in the world.

The lunchbell sounded like a madman through the halls and while Yamato was still standing at Ari's desk, helping her out with something as he smiled, Naruto's grief switched to anger and, since he was the last one to leave the class (besides Ari), he smacked the door shut behind himself just gently enough for the glass in its window and the creaks in the side of it not to shatter.

"Woa, let's control our vampire strength, yeah?" Miku asked, chuckling.

"Shut up."

"So, lunch, right?"

"You go ahead. I've got something to take care of."

Surprisingly, Mitaku didn't say anything and just shrugged, saying, "See you later, then!" before leaving, not asking a single thing.

Naruto headed straight for the vampire lounge, searching for the crowd of vamps that usually packed up the whole room, making it hard as hell to squeeze yourself in. Now, though, all he saw was an empty room. He went to sit on one of the sofas that formed a square together with three other sofa's; the spot where he and the gang always used to sit. Now he was alone, though. Nobody to keep him company, or tease him about his liking for female blood, before Sakura hands him her wrist. He could see them all clearly before his eyes, but when he blinked, it was just him, the leather sofa's, the pale red walls, the elegant windows and..-

"Yamato-tacihou?" Naruto's stomach flipped and he felt his earlier anger bottling up again. Why he felt sad or angry in the first place again, he'd already forgotten, but it was certain he was furious over what his Mentor had made him feel. 

"Hey, Naruto-kun." Yamato leisurely sunk down in the leater sofa beside him. Like he was totally unaware of the blonde's radiating anger. No... that was disgust.

He placed a hand on Naruto's head and smiled lightly as he asked, "So... would you tell me what's upsetting you so badly?" as he looked deeply in the blonde's sapphire eyes with his deep brown pools of orbs and Naruto remembered what his second Mentor's gift was before shoving his hand off his head, pissed as hell.

"Nothing's bothering me, sir."

"Don't lie... it hurts when you're hurt. So please don't lie."

Naruto felt like ihe/i was the one kicking the puppy and tried to remember what he had been so upset about. When he looked at the older vampire's slightly furrowed eyebrows and conerned-looking eyes, he reawakened a previous emotion and the anger bubbled up again.

"Don't pretend like it hurts or it bothers you at all! I don't believe your phony crap. You're nothing but a fake, Yamato-sama."

He was sure that the -sama hit the spot, but Yamato merely smiled and said, "Do you want me to prove to you I'm not a fake?"

Naruto didn't say anything, but Yamato used the old, "silence means yes"-rule and crossed his arms before studying the blonde's face and concentrating for a while.

"You're upset."

Naruto wanted to say, "Wow, not shit Sherlock," but his Mentor continued before he could get a word out.

"You're angry cos I let that other kid answer instead of you. But that's only cos I wanted them to know I didn't favor you. You're upset because I lectured you, and you thought I was the only one who would never do that, because I wasn't as serious as all of them. You're let-down because you were proven wrong and at times, I can be serious. Like right now, when I'm busy with something very important to me. I know more about you than you think, Naruto. I don't have to use my gift, even; I can see it on your face. But that's just the bond, I guess. For instance; I can tell that, despite the way you always laugh and act unbothered, you're constantly lonely, even when you're surrounded by all your friends. And when they leave, you ireally/i feel terrible. I also know that you've seen more of the bad things in this world than any of your friends have seen combined. You feel isolated and different, because you're not the same as them, nor are you human. You're a very rare type of vampire and you haven't even got Pureblood parents to go to for blood or reassurance. And I can tell that despite all this, you're still extremely grateful and happy to have people like Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-senpai and Sakura-san. And I am happy for you that you found them in your life. Because I'm your Mentor, You're my charge, and your happiness is my happiness, whether we want it to be or not."

Naruto was silent as he gazed at his brunette Mentor and dropped his gaze to the ground again. It was annoying, to actually have to listen to what was going on in your head. Worse than just feeling it.

Yamato grinned and put his hand back on his charge's head before pulling the blonde toward him and running the back of his index finger over the tiny holes in Naruto's neck.

"It isn't fair..." he sighed nonchallantly, pulling back a little to look Naruto in the eye, "sharing you with Kakashi-senpai."

The younger vampire pushed himself away from his Mentor. "I'm not a carton of juice," he said, "you guys can't keep poking your own straws into me and drink from me whenever it suits you."

"Isn't that precisely what you're doing with those human girls?"

"It was ione/i screw-up!"

"Not according to your files."

"You read my files?"

"I'm your Mentor, Naruto, I'm supposed to."

"ACK! You, Kakashi-sama, Tsunade-sama, Shizune-sama! It's like my life is described on a sheet of paper!"

"Basically? Yeah."

"Aargh!"

"Aw, c'mon, Naruto-kun, cheer up. I hear you're trying your hardest again."

"Hardest? At what?"

"Pleasing those people and making a life for yourself."

"Pshaw," Naruto scoffed, getting up again.

"I saw you're getting along well with that Mitaku boy."

"I tolerate him."

"He's a human, you ido/i know that?"

"Of course I do. But I'll get along with him until my friends are back."

"Friends? So you don't consider him a friend?"

"An ally, for now. Vampires and humans can't be friends."

"Then why are you in this school?"

"Because..." Naruto walked to the door, thinking of the right way to tell Yamato that he didn't have another option, or another way out, and that if it weren't for this creaking, old building, he'd be on the streets right now. He was thinking of a way to get through to Yamato in a sober way that, he didn't know what home was and that the bonds he'd made here are his first and he doesn't want to let go of them. That, despite his shining mentality and high hopes&dreams-talk, he couldn't do shit without a degree and this was the only proper school that existed for vampires.

"This is the only place I've got."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Kakashi let out a breath as he placed his backpack on his desk and slid the zippers from side to side. He'd never wanted a briefcase; briefcases made him feel old. And despite the fact that he couldn't get older than whichever age was picked out for him, getting old kind of frightened him. He still hasn't reached his maximum age and if he had to admit, he's kind of worried his maximum age just might be over fifty. And to forever be eighty wasn't his dream, either.

He just hoped he would hit his maximum age before he hit his thirties.

Yawning, he dug through his backpack and placed the necessary things he'd need for today's class on his desk. As he did so, he came across the extra tin of blood pills he'd bought for Naruto earlier and just stared at its cover for a while. In little white letters, so tiny you could barely read them unless you were a vampire, the bottom of the lid was printed with the words; 'Purebloods'.

He thought back at what he'd told him about his family the other day and immediately regretted even bringing up the topic. He shouldn't have done what he did. He shouldn't have given away even the slightest of information. He sat back in his leather office chair and lightly spun it from left to right for a bit, then stopped and faced a spot in the back of the classroom and stared at the little red smidge on the wall.

i Everything. Everything was coated in red. The walls, the streets, the bodies laying on the floor... everything.

Kakashi sped through the streets as fast as his vampire legs could carry him and once again he reminded himself to tell Minato he was an idiot for never striking the council back. There had been debates about who were the ones who went out in the middle of the night and killed innocent people and drunk from their blood, and the Uchihas, being the main police force, had taken it upon them to uncover the mystery. And yet, they had all their bets placed on the Namikaze family.

Minato himself, had never assaulted them for accusing him and his grand family of this crime. He had never harmed them or killed them for insulting a Pureblood family like that. It was just something you didn't do. The Purebloods could get /iyou ithrown into jail. Nobody could ever lay a finger on the Purebloods. The Purebloods were holy. Without Purebloods, the Halfbloods would've never existed. Let alone the Fullbloods.

And now look what happened. An all-out vampire war had sprung from something so tiny and Minato still didn't strike back. He just sent out the royal guardians to protect his family, but everyone knew the Purebloods were stronger than all guardians combined. Kakashi still couldn't understand why his Mentor didn't do anything. /i

"Kakashi?" the soft voice of none other than Yuuhi Kurenai interrupted his thoughts. Kakashi stood up and they both thumped their fists on their chests and lightly bowed.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. I was just wondering if you knew when the meeting was."

"Tonight? Eleven pm."

"Thank you."

And the woman left.

iChildren were crying and their mothers went to collect them at a speed only vampires posessed to get them out of the Namikaze district. Kakashi suddenly wondered where Kushina could be and if she was panicking over her four-year-old son, who was probably happily skipping through the bloodied areas right now.

He ran up the black marble steps to the Namikaze mansion and spurted through the already-open doors, avoiding the other vampires skillfully. Most of them were Uchihas, but surprisingly, there were vampires from other honoured clans here as well. No, it wasn't a surprise. Everyone wanted power here. Especially in the council. They knew power wasn't that important to Minato and that the only thing the blonde-haired vampire wanted to use his power for was to create a civilian bond between humans and vampires; one that didn't set the vampires apart as 'bad', the way they did right now. At the moment, the vampires were nothing but disgusting creatures who destroyed everything the humans worked for.

Upstairs, in the hallway, a vampire with long, fiery red hair and eyes the colour of rain stood, holding the heavy body of a man in her hands as though it were a feather by the man's head. She reached over with elegance and grace and whispered something in the man's ear before his head hung down and she dropped him like a bag of trash.

"Kushina," Kakashi breathed, slightly at ease.

"Kakashi," she smiled, eyes turning from icy cold to warm in an instant. "Have you seen Naruto?"

"The boy, right? No, he isn't around. Where's Minato-sama?"

"The last time I saw him he was warding off the vampires in the back-yard. Can you turn on a light? The house is so dark."

Kakashi was surprised at her calm laziness and way she expressed things as though they were no big deal at all. Normally, she would be running around like a chicken without a head, searching for her son desperately. Now she was just calmly telling him that there were vampires taking over her house and destroying the city, massacring her clan and probably off to kill her husband, her child and herself, like it was just another chore she had to take care of.

He was surprised, yes. He was also overwhelmed by all the chaos, though, and her easiness spread through his own limbs like a miracle drug. As though it were a light that went off in his head, he understood that there was no chance anyone could destroy the Namikaze clan. /i

The bell for breakfast echoed through the halls and he could hear the groaning of old oak beds above his classroom ceiling. Alarms were being shut off and the teachers who slept above him lazily pulled their bodies out from underneath their sheets and went through their usual morning routines.

He walked through the halls briefly, so as none of his students could ask him a question before he's had his cup of coffee. If there was one thing he couldn't go without, it was his morning coffee.

The large, octagon tables, were already in the use of proper little students with their proper little uniforms and ties, ugly black shoes and ribbons here and there to make themselves feel unique.

The only one who didn't follow the standard rules was the blonde, whose tie was still "mysteriously" missing, with white and red adidas sneakers and the usual haphazard mess he often referred to as 'hairstyle'.

"Good morning, Hatake-san."

"Sarutobi-san," he nodded his head to Asuma and pulled his paper cup out of the machine. Sure it wasn't great coffee, but it was better than pouring it out of one of those old silver tea kettles, which were placed on almost every table.

The machine was all the way in the corner of the room, behind a little wall so as not to disturb the old, serene and harmonizing furniture. Kakashi just thought it was a nice way of expressing the fact that it was too modern for this old-looking room.

He took his seat, which was now beside Yamato and opposite of Gai, and he was certain this morning wasn't going to be a great one. Then again, if he just ignored them, they might think he wasn't there...

iKushina suddenly jerked her head up and Kakashi knew she heard something he didn't with her Pureblood enhancement powers. She flew out the window, breaking it as she went and ran through the front-yard to Minato, who was laying on the ground in the grass.

"Minato," she gasped, trying to find some kind of wound or injury, but finding none.

"I used my last powers to kill most of them. Others have forgotten what cause they were fighting for. And... with the last strength I had, I healed the wounds so nobody will know what I died of."

Kakashi swallowed, too angry to take what his Mentor said lightly. If these were his dying words: words of being foolish and thinking of nothing but the council and the village and the peace between vampire and human, then he wouldn't accept them. There had to be more.

"Kushina.." he croaked, throat dry and cracky. "Don't fight them. Nobody's left to fight. They all forgot. They all forgot what to fight for. Only Fugaki and Mikoto. Only them."

"Minato you fucking bastard, you're not gonna die."

Minato only smiled.

"You're not gonna die after doing this! You can't!"

It was all so unreal to Kakashi. One moment everything was fine and the next his Mentor was dying of injuries he couldn't even see. Everything was going way too fast and they still didn't know what to do now.

"Don't fight," Minato whispered, as though he could read Kakashi's mind.

The silverhaired vampire turned to face him and saw that his Mentor's bright blue eyes were indeed, on him. "Whatever you do... don't fight..."

"Minato!" Kushina cried, trying to heal him but failing. It was already too late for that.

"I love you, Kushina."

"Don't do this! Don't die!"

"I love you..."

And then it was over. Kakashi covered his left eye and felt its tears streaming down underneath his mask. It was the only way a vampire could die; struck in the heart and exhausted from the over-use of his powers. There was no doubt Minato's heart had been ripped out and his organs were probably missing, too. His healing powers were probably the only reason he stayed alive so long afterwards.

When Kushina stood up and roared in fury and terror as she entered the house again, Kakashi's heart thumped in over-drive and he took one last glance at his Mentor before heading inside as fast as he could to follow her and make sure she didn't do anything stupid.

It wouldn't be a shock if she did. In this world, the world where vampires are labeled and turned grim and bad, a place where it is a sin to be different from human, it is easy to turn on yourself. Which is exactly what the humans wanted. They wanted the vampires to turn against each other and themselves, so their numbers couldn't enlargen. So their packs couldn't strengthen.

And then the vampires would feel outnumbered, hated and lonely. Thanks to that, the birth of a fullblood vampire wasn't something you easily came by. A vampire born from both vampire parents was already rare. But now, with the massacring of pureblood families just for power... the vampire clans were going to go extinct.

But even amidst all this hatred and self-loathing, two vampires found each other, despite their loneliness. Minato, from his pureblood clan, didn't care for those standard marriages that required both vampires to be purebloods. It was just a miracle that Kushina was a pureblood as well. At first, nobody approved of their marriage, until Kushina came clean and told them she was actually a pureblood. Then, all of a sudden, their marriage was to become a national vampire holiday. Nobody would have to go to work or to school on the day of their wedding, so they could all attend it and bask in the glory of the unison of two powerful families, who would help them get over their fears of being vampires or being around humans.

Minato and Kushina belonged together.

He could hear her shrieking out in frustration and suddenly there was a sharp cry of pain and then a thump and then silence. He pulled open the door to Naruto's room and found Kushina on the ground, her heart in her bloody hand, still beating slowly.

"Erase it..." she said in her husky voice. "Erase his memories."

He wanted to kill her for being so cruel and abandoning her son after all he was going to have to put the boy through, but realized that what she did was actually the best for him. The boy wouldn't be able to live on after the massacre of his whole clan and it was hard to believe he would just say, "alright" and live happily with his mother without brain damage. Erasing his memories would be the best option. But still.. Killing herself and leaving him behind like that... it certainly wasn't because she knew she wouldn't be able to stand the burden of not being able to see her son anymore after his memory bank was whiped clean, was it?

His anger sunk through his pores and he could feel its filthiness all around him, causing him to tremble in fury. He really wanted to kill her, but found that it was already done. She was already destroying herself from the inside out, just as she had done with the guy from before, and dropped to the ground with a solid gasp for the remains of her lifespan.

"You will look after him.."

And despite all his anger, he suddenly felt reasonable and nodded. Like he had just agreed upon buying the stupid book he would probably just put on the top shelf in his cupboart to collect dust for the rest of its time, but thought it would fit in nicely with the decor so went ahead and did it.

And then her head lolled to the side, her lips parted slightly, and her eyes fluttered shut as though she were sleeping. But just as he had ignored his Mentor laying in the grass, he ignored her immobile body on the soft lilac carpet and jumped through the window to find this slate he was supposed to whipe. /i

"Did you even listen to a word I said?" Yamato asked him, prodding his cheek. "Hellloooo? Anybody home? I think he's already immune to caffeïne. Kakashiiiii-senpaaai? Nope. He's still asleep. Well, anyway, I should get going. I've got a roomful of philosophics to teach."

Kakashi stood up as well and followed Yamato out of the caffeteria, through the hallway.

"Oh? So you iare/i up?"

"No, I'm sleepwalking," Kakashi sighed.

Yamato chuckled. "So how's this Sora-kid coming along? Any complaints so far?"

"Oh yeah. Loads of 'em. The ceiling's too beige, the blackboard's too small, the window's too dirty, that girl is too ugly, this pen has no ink, your teaching is crap, my pills are all out," Kakashi drummed on in the same tone and the same melody played itself over in his voice and Yamato had to stop him before he actually even considered finishing the list of terrors that haunted the back of his mind and made him want to choke the boy.

"I thought you liked the kid," Yamato replied, smiling viciously.

"Meh. Sometimes."

"Makes you regret not being Naruto's favourite, doesn't it?"

"Don't even try it."

"Oh come on, admit it. You're jealous that your charge's favourite is me and he doesn't even know me that long at all."

"I'm not jealous, I couldn't give a crap who his favourite is, and his favourite person is always gonna be the one who gives him less work to do and always tells him he's right."

"..True. You got me there."

Yamato entered his own classroom after a quick chestthump and a short bow and Kakashi kept walked 'till he reached his own class. In the hallway, a little further ahead, there was a boy with reddish cocoa hair and another with wild blonde hair, talking to each other like normal friends would. Only, one was a vampire, and the other might just as well be a simple victim.

With a sigh, he opened the door and went back to his desk to take a seat. He stared at the back of the classroom again and took note of the rows of students, waiting patiently for him to start the lesson. With a sigh, he pulled out a sheat of paper and anounced, "Surprise test," in the happiest voice he could.

While students were scribbling down their answers, trying to score the best grade they could so they could get out of here and enjoy their Christmas Holidays, Kakashi leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes, unbothered by the fact that most of his students saw it as their perfect opportunity to copy each-others answers.

iA little blonde-haired boy, who seemed like a mini clone, nay the younger version, of Kakashi's Mentor, stood there, crying his eyes out. The silverhaired vampire looked a little further and found three dead Uchiha vampires, who didn't have any phyisical wounds, and he knew he internally killed them, just like his mother had killed herself.

The boy was bawling his eyes out, though, and another boy his age had come running over to him, looking confused and in a daze. Kakashi could tell this child was also an Uchiha, but the boy was too young to know of their plans and what his clan had just done to Naruto's.

Apparently, Naruto only knew of the dead vampire right in front of him, but Kakashi could tell he'd killed those other two as well.

"Naruto?" the Uchiha child had asked as he came to a stop beside him.

"I..I couldn't..I couldn't help it!" Naruto sputtered, "it just- it just happened!"

The other boy's eyes fell upon the dead man at Naruto's feet. "Th-this is my-my uncle!"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke!" Tears were flowing freely from the child's sparkling azure eyes. "He attacked me, I swear! He attacked me and I- I just- I just..." Naruto fell to his knees, sobbing into his fists.

The boy called Sasuke kneeled down beside him and patted his head as though the blonde were his puppy. "I believe you. Everything's been so hectic. I don't know where everyone is. Even Itachi-nii-san isn't telling me anything. I don't understand."

Kakashi chose this moment to step in and the little raven looked up, anger written all over his face to defend himself. If there was one thing the Uchihas knew they possessed, it was the angry look in their eye, the one that warded off all enemies. But Kakashi knew this child couldn't harm him and right now, his only concern was removing the other boy's memories.

He pulled off his scarf and was amazed by the fact that there was no blood on it and kneeled down before the blonde. Naruto looked up and for a moment, pain shot through Kakashi's body when he realized that right now, he was all the kid had. And he was going to take even that away. The child was going to end up alone.

He reached his arm out, but the little Uchiha had grabbed his wrist with an amazing speed, proving that the Uchiha clan was not something to underestimate. But this was still merely a youngling vampire and Kakashi easily stretched his arm out further, too strong for Sasuke to restrain. Softly, he dabbed the bloody, scarred face and wiped away all traces of the child's crying.

Realizing he should do something about the Namikaze bodies laying around, he looked from the blonde to the raven before standing up and taking both boys each underneath and arm and speeding up to the Uchiha mansion. If there was one place the Uchihas wouldn't come looking for him, it would be in their own home. Quickly, he explained the situation to Itachi, who appeared disgusted by what his clan had done and vowed to protect the child until he returned and he quickly left to get rid of all the bodies in the village./i

"Sensei, the bell rang."

Kakashi opened his eyes and realized he hadn't heard it sound at all. This was indeed something weird, since it was so loud and it would be impossible not to hear it.

"Alright. Bring your tests to the front."

The students did as wanted of them and piled up a stack of papers on his desk before leaving the classroom. Only two minutes later, more students started pouring in and took their seats. There were only eleven students of Naruto's age who stayed for 'Summer' school and he was missing, making it ten. He was probably just purposely running late, the way he always did.

Ah, and there you go. Fifteen minutes into the lesson and he walks inside, fake-huffing and pretending to be out of breath, probably coming up with the excuse that he forgot which lesson he had, he ran to the front-desk to find out, and then spurted his way over here to make sure he was on-time. He was so easy to read, especially since there wasn't a drop of sweat or a tinge of red detectable on his cheeks.

"Sorry sensei! I totally forgot which period I had right now and then I went over to the front-desk to ask them, they made me wait like half an hour and when they finally told me, I ran over here as fast as I could to make sure I wasn't late. But I probably am, aren't I?"

"Extremely. Take a seat, Uzumaki," Kakashi sighed, not even bothering to drill him about being on time. Half the time he wasn't on time himself, so he didn't really have the right to tell this child to watch the pocketwatch.

The blonde sat down next to the boy he'd been talking to earlier and opened up his notebook and pulled out a pen, actually looking determined to really itake notes/i and not just doodle in his book for fifty minutes.

Kakashi put on a Biology movie about Animal Emotions & Instincts and turned off the lights. Most of the students took it as their oportunity to chat a little, but Naruto, for once, was actually ipaying attention/i. And not the fake paying attention he always did, since he was blinking now. Even when that boy with the red-brown hair tried to tell him something, he just ignored him.

This was odd.

i He probably wants to get good grades so he can get out of here. So he can go the Uchiha district,/i Kakashi thought, memories rolling over him like the waves of an ocean once more.

i As he'd expected, the head of the Uchiha's, Fugaku, wasn't home. Just Itachi , Sasuke and Naruto. The mother wasn't there, either. She was probably at the council, trying to reason with them. Her voice had always meant a lot there.

"He's alright, then? Not too traumatized?" Kakashi asked, and Itachi smirked, shaking his head.

"He's fine," the stoic raven replied and guided him to the living room, where Sasuke and Naruto were making paper planes on the floor and writing some stuff on the wings to make them look fancy.

Kakashi could tell the blonde was having trouble staying focused on folding the paper and he often folded in the wrong spot, which made him have to unfold it and try to fix it without messing it up.

When the blue-eyed boy had gotten stuck, his friend had leaned over, expressionless and calm, and folded the paper for him before returning to his own paper plane. Naruto finished the plane and Kakashi walked over to him when he was done.

The two children looked up, nervously. And yet their curiosity got the best of them and they stayed where they were instead of running away.

Smiling with his eyes, Kakashi sat down beside the blonde and the raven sitting over Naruto turned to look at Itachi, who simply nodded before heading to the kitchen.

"Paper planes, hmm?" Kakashi asked, picking one up and inspecting it as though he knew anything about planes.

Naruto looked up for a moment, but then just fixed his gaze back on his work again, without saying a word. Kakashi knew the child could sense the absence of his parents' existence.

"You know, the interesting thing about this stuff, is that if you don't fold it in the right way, it won't fly."

The boy stopped folding for a second and stared at the plane in his hands for a moment, then continued again.

There was a long silence, before Kakashi stopped futsing with the object in his hold and looked down at his Mentor's son, who still held his head down and tried to avoid the man he didn't really know. Kakashi had seen the boy running around from time to time, or squirming his way out of his father's hold so he could go play outside, but besides that, he hadn't really known much about the kid. Until now, that is. He remembered watching him when he was just born for about twenty moments, and even then the child had been silent and just stared at the ceiling or tried to fall asleep.

And now he asked the question he knew he should've asked earlier, but didn't. "Are you alright?"

The room they were sitting in wasn't lit and everything was dreary and cloudy outside. The sky was grey and it was raining every-so-gently. Almost like the calm that came after every big experience.

The boy looked up with tears in his eyes and just stared at him for a couple of seconds before swallowing and nodding and returning to his previous occupation.

Itachi returned to the livingroom with a tray and placed it on the coffeetable. Four mugs of lavender-chamomile tea rested on it securely and Kakashi thanked the older Uchiha before taking one off and handing it to the blonde. Itachi did the same with his little brother, but both knew it would take a stronger drink to calm the boy after losing all his memories.

Naruto was blowing the tea in his mug when he suddenly felt a hand on his forehead and there was a fraction, just a tiny, minuscule fraction, of pain he'd never experienced before, such a sharp pain he thought he was going to die, but it was over so quickly that he barely remembered it at all. He didn't remember anything. Only little, tiny things. Like Sasuke being his friend. And Itachi being Sasuke's brother. And that this man was an ally. But more than that he just didn't know.

He opened his eyes, but the room was too bright to actually take in the sight of anything. Slowly, the outlines of the furniture fell into place and the room darkened. The man was back on his feet and Naruto put the mug down before standing up quickly and heading over to the silverhaired vampire.

Kakashi could feel something clinging at his pantleg and looked down to find confused, frustrated, blue eyes, gazing at him expectantly. It really looked like the child had hurricanes in his eyes and his whole mind had been blown away in a whirlwind.

"You'll be okay," he told the boy, before walking away again.

Itachi walked him out and they spoke soft, small words here and there as Kakashi pulled his sandals on. "He must go to Rouku Nintai Shouri High. It doesn't matter which school he goes to before that. Can you bring him to the orphanage and tell them that?"

"I certainly can, but how will we know if things work out? He will, without a doubt, harm the humans in the orphanage."

"What about the vampire one?"

"There's a vampire one?"

"Yes. There's one in Fukushima."

"I don't mind taking him there, but you will possibly regret it."

"Trust me, I don't want to be near the kid for a while."

Itachi didn't question his brute words at all. He simply opened the front door and smiled politely with a slight bow and Kakashi did the same, before descending into the gentle rain. For some reason, it seemed colder than before. /i

The movie was over and as the end-credits rolled down the screen, Kakashi stood and stretched. He turned on the lights again and the class moaned their complaints, packing their stuff in grumpily. The boy next to Naruto yawned and cracked his back, lazily packing his stuff in as Naruto shoved his stuff into his backpack and left the classroom without waiting for him.

i He'd said such cruel words. 'I don't want to be near the kid'. Itachi surely got the wrong idea. All he wanted was to get away from the confusion. The boy was the link, the chain to everything that had happened earlier and it still racked his mind as he made his way home from the Uchiha district. He was so frustrated. He didn't understand why he felt so empty and suddenly incomplete.

And then it panged at him like a bullet through his chest. It was his Mentor. He just lost his first bond. It broke against his will and shattered right before his eyes. And he hadn't done a thing. That's probably why he'd wanted to get away from the kid. He resembled his Mentor so much... He probably hadn't wanted to be reminded of him.

The humans were in uproar and there were groups of them, with big banners, stalking through the village. Banners and spanners and boards that read things like, "DRIVE THEM OUT" and "STOP DESTROYING OUR VILLAGE". Kakashi looked around and gazed at the blood that had stopped dripping down the walls and dried and crusted instead. The rain was washing it all away and transporting it to the gutters in the road, yet still Kakashi could smell the death in the air.

The death of his important people./i

"Kakashi-sama."

Kakashi looked up, only to come eye to eye with none other than his charge.

"You're very unlike yourself today."

"Hmm? Am I?" Kakashi played dumb.

"Yes."

There was a brief silence before the blue-eyed teen asked, "Are you alright?"

The silverhaired vampire's sole visible eye widened just a little and he nodded. He then realized he was being utterly unlike himself and scoffed before pulling his sarcasm-face and mocked, "No, I feel like crap, I'm gonna be stuck teaching you for iweeks/i. I sure as hell hope you took serious notes before. I'm gonna test you on this movie if you didn't."

"Don't worry, sensei."

Kakashi thought he was going to say something along the lines of, "I took some good notes," but was surprised by the blonde's next words.

"You'll be okay."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Naruto hovered over the sink, staring at his blurry reflection. His face was dripping wet, but he still couldn't see clearly. He was huffing and the little black tin was still clutched tightly in his fist. It sucked, waking up at 2 am, hungry. Hungry for something humans aren't hungry for. It sucked, being around nothing but blood every single hour of every day and every night. It made him fear loneliness, fear the constant presence of blood, available to him whenever he wanted.

Then again, if he actually drunk any of it, he'd be kicked away from the only thing he had left; his education. And even though it might seem like it meant nothing to him, Naruto's most valuable posession was his intellect. It made him feel human.

Once more, white foamy liquids burned like acid in his throat and he dumped the content in the sink. The left-over pills in the tin were rattling and he realized his arms were shaking. He felt weak and drained, but most of all, helpless. He knew he could be so much stronger than all those other vampires; that he ishould/i be stronger than all of them. But now... he might as well be the lowest of human trash.

Taking deep breaths, he tacked the tin against his palm and the two remaining pills fell into his open hand. He stared at them for two seconds before popping them into his mouth. His eyes stayed focused on the ceiling until he felt the effect of the pills spread for just an instant and vanished. It took less than a second for the pills, somewhat melty whole, to pour back into the porcelain sink.

He wanted to smash his forehead against the edge of the sink, but refrained, and backed up against the door of a toilet stall before sliding against it and sitting down like a pile of flesh and bones against the dark wood. He cursed himself for being unable to take the blood pills. It would've been so much easier if he could. Now there was only one option left, since he couldn't buy a plasma pack anymore. One of (or both) his Mentors.

He doubted either of them was up to it at 2AM and thumped his hand against his forehead, agitated. What should he do? Wait until the morning? No. Without a doubt, he'd go searching for blood in half an hour, anyway. Only then, he won't be able to remain sane and just go attacking anyone and everyone he finds. No, that wouldn't do.

And just when he was about to shout out in frustration, he heard a knock on the door to the boys' bathrooms and wondered if it was a girl. A guy certainly wouldn't knock and a teacher would just walk in as well.

"Naruto-san?"

i Miku? What's he doing here? /i Naruto thought.

"Are you still.. under control?"

"Yes," the blonde croaked, not about to get angry over Mitaku's choice of words.

"Naruto-san, I know that.. that it isn't allowed, but," Miku took a breath, "if you can restrain yourself and keep yourself from turning me into a vampire.." he couldn't finish his sentence and just showed Naruto his arm, instead. 

The cannibalistic intent rushed through Naruto's veins and he was suddenly overwhelmed by a heatwave of power, like he was forcing himself to stay in control. For an arm, it looked beautiful. To him, it was one of the most stunning things there could be in this world. The warm blood that got delivered to every organ necessary by the veins and the heart in these humans that pumped it around their bodies... Perhaps Biology was interesting, after all.

Swallowing audibly, he rushed over to him and grabbed Miku's arm, underestimating his own force and accidently smashing the other teen against the door. He brought the brunette's young flesh to his lips and didn't hesitate to pierce it with the fangs he called jewels.

Satisfactory? No. That wasn't precise enough. This was so much better than satisfying. It was odd, since Naruto had been so sure it was only girls who had the sweet blood. But this... this was like bittersweet. This was like a blizzard, racing all around him, but right in the middle there was a little candle that lit up and warmed everything inside of him. Like the sour powder around a sweet candy. This was... this was indescribebly breathtaking.

There was a gasp and hands pressed against his chest, trying to push him away. He really didn't want to release this neck, but he knew he was going to have to if he wanted to save his own ass, iand/i Miku's, if he was planning on drinking more of this delicious blood.

"Are.. are you composed, now?"

Naruto was silent and stared at the door absently.

"Does it – does it do you good? How does it feel?"

"Imagine a roomful of angry creatures that look exactly like you," Naruto replied in a monotonous voice, "they seem human, but they're really not. They snap off arms and legs and twist your neck before they stuff particles of your body into their mouths. You're shouting out in pain and agony, but you cannot move; they already paralyzed you. You watch as others eat your comrades, your friends. Fellow students, killed and sucked dry by nothing but monsters... That is how it feels."

Miku was as silent as a bat, but he wouldn't have gotten the chance to speak anyway, since someone quickly forced open the door, pushing the two away from the entry.

"Kakashi-sama," Naruto greeted.

"You're a fuck-up, d'you know that?" Kakashi growled, "A real shit-disturber, you are."

Naruto didn't reply anymore. The look in his eyes was absent and he didn't react to anything. Mitaku's blood was still flowing through his body, but the rush of it didn't excite him at all, anymore. All he could think of was the monsters he'd heard of in stories, shredding off arms and legs, eating each-other. They drank from each other and killed each other in the process, before packs of them went to attack large groups of humans. They drank from themselves, because they held no human sanity at all, and tried to get stronger by doing so. But upon realizing it didn't work, they would only look more like monsters than ever and the white of their eyes turned black. Yes. They were monsters.

Impatient and fed-up, Kakashi punched the blonde square in the face, which resulted in the young vampire to crash right against the mirror on the other end of the bathroom. Miku stood there, mouth agape and eyes wide, like he'd seen a ghost. The silverhaired vampire waved dismissively at him and Miku lingered at the door for a couple of seconds, worried about his friend, but he then decided it was for the better and left.

Naruto didn't even make a move to get away from the shattered mirror or pull out the chunks that had plunged their ways deep into his skin. His blood was slowly swirling down in the bowl of the sink until it completely drained away and made place for more of it. The stream that flowed down his arms only proved to make him weaker and he got dizzy. The room was spinning and it turned fuzzy. The pressured air around him sounded like a feint buzzing in his eardrums and yet he was as conscious as anything. He wanted to fall asleep, to just forget the images that had flooded his mind.

And then he felt some kind of painful feeling in his face and his vision slowly cleared. His numb cheek suddenly started to sting and he could see Kakashi slapping it, trying to get him to return to normal.

"Uzumaki," he grumbled.

"Mm." Naruto turned his face the other way.

"Oh, good. You can feel again." Out of the blue, there was an extremely strong, painful impact on his face again, followed by a kick in his stomach and then a quick jerk at his hair to keep him upright and he got shoved against the wall. Kakashi leaned in close and whispered in his air threateningly, "I told you I would kill you if you ever bit another human again."

Naruto coughed and blood left his mouth in huge amounts. His wounds automatically healed themselves, but he could still feel them burning. Kakashi drew back his fist and Naruto shut his eyes, unwilling to know when the pain would actually hit him.

Why he didn't fight back? He didn't know. Perhaps because his body was weak. Perhaps because deep inside, he believed that if Kakashi beated him up enough, the vampire might feel fulfilled and would allow him to stay in the school. Perhaps because he just didn't feel like it at the moment. He just didn't want to move.

And then, something pinched his jaw, but it wasn't that painful. He could feel something small on his tongue and noted it was a blood pill. Oh holy Juliette, how many of these has he already taken? But his mouth was covered by a hand and so was his nose, so he swallowed. Three to five seconds later, he felt the pill come back up again, and wanted to push Kakashi's arms away, but couldn't manage to summon the strength to.

iIs he trying to make me choke on my own vomit? Now that is just cruel./i

But, surprisingly, there was no such thing happening anytime soon.

"You can't handle it because your body has the option to get rid of it. You've got a spoiled, pureblood body. It's like a rich guy that refuses to drive a crappy car. Sure he can, he just doesn't want to."

"I wanted to," Naruto hissed.

"But your body didn't."

"Great, I'll remember that for the future. I'm gonna go pack my bags."

"Good idea."

Naruto didn't detect any sarcasm, though he did expect something close to, "Why? You think Tsunade's gonna kick you out?", but he didn't even get that. It was like Kakashi could already predict the outcome of what had just happened.

And all that just cos he drank a tiny bit of Miku's blood. He didn't even drink half as much as he usually did. Miku could still walk, could still see, there was no curse or anything along those lines whatsoever.

"You really want me out, don't you?"

"I do. But not enough to soil my own name by telling Tsunade about tonight."

"Then... Then why did you-"

"Hey, if you iwant/i out, then I won't stop you. I'll only cheer you on."

"So that's why-"

"Yes."

"Then why did you attack me?"

"You're my charge."

"So? You could've just ignored it. If you weren't planning on telling Tsunade in the first place-"

"Bad behavior deserves punishment. Speaking of punishment; Yamato and I are giving you extra lessons to pull your grades up at least five points."

"Five? That's impossible!"

"That's what I thought too, about you making more of an idiot of yourself. But what do you know? The impossible made possible."

Naruto wanted to bite his face off, but understood it wasn't in his best favor to, and remained silent.

"You'd better get back to sleep now, before anyone starts suspecting things."

The blonde vampire made a move to leave the bathroom, but his Mentor smirked and blocked his way. "Where do you think you're going?" he teased.

"Uh? Where you told me to; my bed."

"You're not sleeping in a bed tonight, Uzumaki." Kakashi went into his pocket and pulled out a tiny steel bar. He pulled at the edges of the thing and more metal tubes clanged out of it, held together by one long chain. The Mentor of the younger vampire grabbed his Charge's collar and dragged him into a bathroom stall and sat him down on the lid of a toilet before wrapping the clangy bars around him; tying him to the toilet.

"Y-you're not serious are you?"

"Why? Don't I look serious, then?"

"You can't do this! Are you insane?"

The silverhaired vampire bent his knees a little so he was on Naruto's eye-level and smiled his curved-eye smile before flushing the toilet and stating, "Good night."

"No! Nononono! And what if someone comes in?"

Kakashi clicked the lock shut before jumped over the door slickly, in a way only vampires could. He didn't reply at first, but before the door to the bathroom swung shut, Naruto heard, "Improvise!"

He woke to the sound of the flushing of a toilet and he immediately remembered what had happened. If this person found out where he was, he would be in big, embarrassing trouble. He started to panic and then he heard, "Is someone there?"

His heart started to thump in his throat and his legs actually trembled. He could hear a lid shut on another toilet and then feet climbing on top of the lid. He shut his eyes and turned the other way, unable to hide the shame.

"Joking."

That was Kakashi's voice.

"FUCK YOU!"

"Hey, is that the kind of appreciation you show your Mentor for waking up early so something like this doesn't happen?"

"IT DID!"

"But not for real."

"Whatever, just get me untied!"

Kakashi grinned and undid the seal on the metal bars with a little key. Naruto stood up and immediately flung his hands around his Mentor's throat.

"NEVER. AGAIN."

Kakashi just laughed, already aware that Naruto couldn't even get in into his head to actually itry/i and choke him. You couldn't insult a Mentor like that.

"Anyway, if you really do manage to get your grades up five points, Yamato and I have both debated with Tsunade-sama and she agrees that you can quit 'Summer' school the moment you do. But I strongly doubt it'll work."

"So THAT'S what you've been doing when I was locked up here?"

Suddenly, they both heard the door to the bathroom swing open and Kakashi quickly pulled the door to their stall shut and covered Naruto's mouth. The blonde didn't understand why they didn't just slip out now, while the person was ... busy... and stayed here instead. But Kakashi held a finger to his lips as a sign to shut up and Naruto could hear feet climbing up the same seat Kakashi stood on earlier.

"Good morning," Yamato greeted the two.

Naruto understood that his Mentors had been playing a trick on him and glared at Yamato. "Har-dey-har, that was just freaking hilarious."

But the door swung open again and Yamato, who looked scared as hell, slipped over from his stall to theirs and actually ifell/i on the toilet in the process, causing Naruto to fall aswell and push Kakashi with his face against the door. All in all, the three of them were in a ... sticky situation.

Feet were climbing ontop of the toilet seat in the stall beside theirs again and Naruto, who thought it was another joke, wanted to just get out of the stall already, but when he saw Yamato's serious face and Kakashi's, well, smashed face, he realized neither of them were planning this.

And then there was a deafening chorus of boyish laughter and Naruto looked up into the face of none other than Sora.

"HAHAHAHA-when I heard Kakashi-sama and Yamato-sama scamming, at first I-ahaha- thought it wouldn't be that funny, but, but this -GWAHAHAHA- priceless!"

Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato and Sora had agreed to never speak of it again in exchange for no homework on Sora's part for a week.

As for now, Naruto would be studying his ass off with Kakashi and Yamato for a while...

~*~*~ 2 weeks later ~*~*~

"Is it real?" Yamato asked, poking the plastified paper.

"You know, I'm not sure.." Kakashi replied.

Naruto merely grinned proudly, rubbing at his nose with glee.

"Maybe he cheated."

"Impossible. You can't during these exams. There's too little students."

"But... what other way... it doesn't make sense.."

"Uzumaki," Kakashi started, "I know it's a stupid question, but.. did you study?"

Naruto nodded.

"Really?" Yamato asked, eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Alright, alright! Don't rub it in!" Naruto hissed. "Not everyone needs to know!"

"Well... every grade is a perfect seven or eight, so... as promised." Kakashi pulled out a little slip with the permission to leave the school for the remainder of the Christmas Holidays.

With the broadest smile anyone had ever seen on the teen, he skippled off with sparkling glee and butterflies surrounding him.

"Are you sure it isn't some kind of magic trick?" Yamato insisted.

"You know... I have no idea with this kid."

Naruto was finished packing his stuff and was now bidding his farewell to Miku, who vowed to study hard as well.

"And, Naruto-san..."

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry. About what happened the other day, you know."

"Huh? What? Oh, that. It's so long ago, already, I totally forgot about it."

"Honestly? Well, you do seem happier nowadays. And more awake, too."

Naruto smiled proudly. "I can take the blood pills, now."

"Really? That's great! ...I think."

"It is."

"Then good going, man."

"Well, I'm gonna get going, then. See you next year, dude."

"Alright. Oh, and... here. But you can't read it until you're in Hiroshima!"

Naruto nervously shifted his weight to his other foot when he took the little crumpled up paper from the boy. Miku's smile was so blindingly happy that he decided it probably wasn't anything important. Probably just a farty joke or something.

"See ya!"

"Bye-bye!"

In Naruto's last hour on the train to Hiroshima, he just couldn't stand the temptation anymore and unfolded the little crumpled-up paper. The woman sitting next to him, with her disgusting perfume and sticky red-painted lips, raised her eyes to check out what Naruto was doing, but when Naruto just looked at her, she already fixed her gaze on the article the man across from her was reading. There was a little girl sitting opposite of Naruto and for a moment, the blonde wondered if she was from his school.

But when she skippled her legs back and forth impatiently and crossed her arms as she gazed out the window, he decided it was unimportant and read what the little note said.

i "I am a chosen one for the Uzumaki clan" /i

"What?" Naruto said out-loud, which caused the three others in the cabin to look at him. He just ignored them, though, and re-read the words on the little paper.

i Uzumaki clan's... chosen... one.. /i


	9. Chapter 9

subDisclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Previously: i "I am a chosen one for the Uzumaki clan" /i

"What?" Naruto said out-loud, which caused the three others in the cabin to look at him. He just ignored them, though, and re-read the words on the little paper.

i Uzumaki clan's... chosen... one.. /i

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~/sub

Getting off the train was harder than getting on. There were so many people packed up together, squishing him inbetween them. It was troublesome, trying to ignore the scent of their blood, and pulling his head away when he came face-to-face with a lovely neck once in a while. If he wanted to, he could just rip open the entire stream of people and leave the scene before anyone could even pronounce his name.

But thinking about all those other vampires that had to go through this day in, day out, he felt guilty and ashamed for just thinking about it.

Hiroshima at night was as busy as it was during the day. There were people walking around with little children, who kept their tired heads up to please their parents. Naruto felt sorry for them, but he soon realized they felt sorry for ihim/i, because he had never had any parents to begin with. So he picked up the pace and stopped at a bench to check out his map. He had made a circle around the Uchiha district, but so far he had no idea where he was. Reading maps has never been one of his strengths, even when he was so close to the station.

He pulled out a marker and colored the road to the Uchiha district, telling himself he would definitely find it without messing up. And it was that moment, that a thought suddenly clouded his mind, even if it had nothing to do with what he was doing right now.

i If Mitaku is my family's chosen one... does he mean... like Gaara's family? Like someone who was found just for the Uzumaki clan? Or is he more than that? /i

"Aaargh! What does it matter!" He cradled his head with his hand and shook it quickly. "I've gotta find Sasuke, he'll know what it means."

Sighing a sigh of relief, Naruto dropped his bag on the front-step and rang the doorbell.

It had been trouble finding his way not only ito/i the Uchiha district, but also ithrough/i it. But it hadn't been so hard, since Sasuke's house (-cough-mansion) was the biggest here, anyway. It made him feel an ounce of jealousy, but it soon vanished when he realized neither of them gained any from it at all. It wasn't like they had to fill their lives with pretty, expensive things, to make sure they lived their lives to the fullest. They would live forever – what was the point of these over-priced luxuries?

The door swung open and a servant stood in front of the blonde, eyeballing him like he were some kind of alien.

"What is your purpose here?" the old lady demanded. 

"Hello, baa-chan!" Naruto greeted with a smile, "I'm here to see Sasuke! He told me I could stay with him for a while. You know, to celebrate Christmas and all!"

"You?" She eyed me up and down. When my face returned to its strict expression, she glared right back at me. "Are iyou/i Uchiha-sama's friend? You don't really look like much."

"Look here, baa-chan!" Naruto started, but suddenly Sasuke was at the door and dismissed the servant.

"It's alright, Fuyuki, he's spending a part of the Winter holidays here. He's spending Christmas with us."

"If you say so, Uchiha-sama..." And the old lady retreated to the yet-to-be-cleaned rooms.

Naruto smiled at his friend. "What a stuck-up old hag," he chuckled. 

"I see you've passed your exams," Sasuke replied, guiding him in.

The two headed straight for Sasuke's room, already well-aware of the fact that Itachi knew Naruto was here. Basically, the two brothers had the whole house to themselves, and Naruto idly wondered what they had been doing before he got here.

"And with dazzling brilliance!" he showed off. "I'm telling you, Sasuke, I probably even scored higher than Shikamaru!"

Sasuke smirked. "Don't push it."

And the two boys laughed while Naruto unpacked his things.

"Hey," Sasuke said, "there's a market just out of the Uchiha district. I hear Hinata's working there for the summer. Wanna check it out?"

"You mean, do I wanna piss off Kiba?"

"Of course, dobe."

"Right on!"

Before the two knew it, a week had passed and it was Christmas morning. Naruto smirked like a little kid and pulled a present out of his bag. It was wrapped in blue and silver, and had a note attached to it, saying; "Might, very possibly, improve your looks a little." It was a manly way to give clothes to somebody.

Sasuke was still sleeping, so he tip-toed over to the stairs and went downstairs as quietly as possible. He slipped through the rooms like a cat, managing to maneouver around anything dangerously loud or creaky. When he reached the tree, he just stood still for a while, gazing at it. He hadn't thought Itachi nor Sasuke had been Christmas-tree-fanatics. Did they have a fetish for having the biggest things in the world or something? This thing was gi-normous!

Gently, he put the package down underneath the tree, making sure not to knock over any decorations.

"You're up early, Naruto-kun."

"AAH!" he shrieked, bumping straight against the tree and nearly tipping it over, but managing to catch it just-in-time. "Ow ow ow!"

Itachi sighed and helped him out, taking the tree over from him and placing it straight in its clay pot. "You should watch your strength more, these trees are made for humans," he said.

"R-right. Sorry."

"No worries. Would you help me clean up?"

Naruto gazed down at the floor and realized that the tree's needles had litered the floor after he whacked against it. "Of course, right away, I'm sorry!" he repeated, heading for the maid's cleaning cabinet to get a sweeper.

As he helped Itachi gather the little green needles, he suddenly realized the maid was sipping coffee outside, and she could just as well have done it. Which must mean...

Out of the blue, he heard an exasperated sound of breath close to his ear and he wanted to move away, but he was stuck between the wall and the bark of the tree. They were both on hands and knees, amidst the greens and reds and whites, listening to the clinking of Christmas balls and bells in the tree, flecks of blue decoration-lights illuminating their faces.

And in one instant, Itachi's fangs sunk into Naruto's flesh and he felt a shiver run over his spine. He knelt down lower to the ground, but the Uchiha lifted his chin up with his finger and continued to drink peacefully. It must have felt magical to Itachi, but to Naruto, there was only hunger. He was rapidly losing blood, even though Itachi should have already had his fill.

"I-I thought you Uchiha's only drank Uchiha blood."

Itachi released the boy's neck and inhaled sharply before smirking. Naruto couldn't find one droplet of blood on the raven's lips; not one sign of spillage. What a clean vampire this man was.

"We only ineed/i Uchiha blood. But noble blood is always nice as an extra. It'll be your Christmas present to me, instead of those chocolates in your pocket."

"H-how did you know I got you chocolates?"

"Cheap guess. But since I do not have a Christmas present for you.." Itachi shut his eyes and lowered his collar. "I figure we can make a swap."

Naruto smiled softly before leaning closer to the Uchiha and lowering his bottom lip. "You're okay with this?" he asked, just to be sure.

"It wouldn't be fair if I didn't, would it now?"

"Hm," Naruto smirked, "I guess I can't deny ithat/i offer..." As gently as he could, he pierced Itachi's flesh and sucked at the bitemarks. He wanted to keep it as clean as he had before, but he was certain he'd already gotten some blood on his lip. When he had his fill, he pulled back, and stared at the older vampire.

Itachi reached out for him, and wiped a droplet of blood off the boy's ruby lips, before licking it up. "You should learn not to waste any. I am certain that Kakashi-san would most appreciate it if you didn't."

"Ri-right."

"Shall we move to a more comfortable place?"

"..Yes."

The two got out from underneath the tree and wiped themselves off, just when Sasuke headed downstairs, yawning as he pulled a T-shirt over his head.

"You guys are up early," he commented. "Is there any coffee around here?"

"I'll go make some," Naruto immediately offered, heading to the kitchen, if only to get away from the older Uchiha.

i Well... that has been... awkward.. /i, he thought.

Christmas at the Uchiha's was... not at the Uchiha's. They went to a banquet to celebrate, and Sasuke had forced Naruto into wearing a suit. Very well, the tie had been (mysteriously?) missing, but he had passed his friend's critical eye, and the three of them headed straight for the Nobleman's Banquet. And despite Naruto's best efforts, Sasuke wouldn't let him out of sight, for the fact that he was certain Naruto would surely benefit from such a royal luxury.

Sasuke dragged Naruto to the banquet by his arm, taking him straight to the front, where three female vampires sat in individual leather chairs on a higher piece of land. They sat underneath the foliage of a weeping willow, smiling viciously when they neared.

"Itachi-san," said the one in the middle, streaking her arm toward the raven in a relaxed, yet sensually exotic way. Her dark mocha skin was smooth and stroked the Uchiha's pale one exquisitely. "Your presence alone makes my people shiver." Her manner of speaking was different and she obviously wasn't from the neighbourhood.

"Kalika-san," Itachi took her hand and kissed it lightly, bowing to her as he did so.

She smiled, showing her huge, white teeth, along with her grand fangs. "And who is this?"

Sasuke pushed the blonde forward, toward Kalika. Naruto bowed to the female vampire, causing her to broaden her smile even further.

"A Pureblood, Itachi?" she asked the man, standing up. She walked over to the blonde with curling motions, like an African dancer. "What is your name, boy?" she asked, lifting his chin with her index finger, enjoying her superiority.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Straight-forward iand/i good-looking. Hmm, looks like I will be capable of sculpting you to perfection, wouldn't you say?"

Naruto grit his teeth, but didn't reply. He managed to untighten his fist and cleared his throat. Kalika backed up again and sat herself down in her chair. "Saria," she ordered, "give the Uzumaki what's his."

The one in the chair to her right stood up, swooping her long silver hair over her shoulders before disappearing into the late night's darkness, tables, drinks and guests. There were candles on each table and lanterns hanging from every tree, but the shadows still managed to darken most areas. Even the grass beneath their feet was darker than they were used to.

"Now... Back to the matter at hands," Kalika anounced, "what are your plans for the future, Sasuke-kun?"

"I'm studying law, Kalika-sama."

She was silent for just a second, before a roar of laughter came booming from her as she threw her head back in her neck and chuckled like there was no end to her disapproval.

"Law? A vampire?" she repeated. "Do you honestly believe they will allow a VAMPIRE to decide over the right of a HUMAN?"

"A-and vampires!" Sasuke added, but when Kalika shot him a heated glare, he shut up and seemed to cringe, but only just slightly.

i What the heck is up with Sasuke? And who does this woman think he is? What is she to the Uchihas? It's almost like she's holy to Sasuke. He never reacts like this! /i

Naruto wanted to voice his thoughts and ask the woman who the hell she thought she was, but then Saria returned and handed him a little package. Curious and almost excited even, the blonde unwrapped it and dropped the lightbrown wrapping paper on the ground impassively. The others around him stared at the necklace as he held it up in front of himself. The little blue crystal reflected the moonlight on his face, capturing everyone's attention.

"Is this mine?" he asked.

"It was your mother's," Kalika replied, sounding almost bored, as she rested the side of her head on her fist.

"Thank... Thank you." He was breathless and chose to put it on instead of stare at it the whole time.

"Sasuke-chan, the next time I see you, I want you to have a serious ambition in storage. Unless you agree and wish to become one of my army members."

"No army is necessary," Itachi interrupted before Sasuke could reply, "he'll have a decent answer next time."

Kalika smirked. "Good."

"Kalika," the one on her other side spoke up, "let me take the Uzumaki. I believe it's time we show him the secret."

"What secret?" the blonde immediately asked.

"Your father was tampering with things he shouldn't have been tampering with," Kalika replied, grinning lubriously.

Naruto furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about?" he asked, seriously.

The other one sighed and looked at him like she really wasn't in the mood to explain, but he didn't care. He wanted to know what was going on and what they were indicating about, but understood that he would have to be quiet and follow obediently if he wanted to find out.

"Saria, Unoe, bring it to him."

Kalika's two hench-women left their company for a moment to head out back into the darkness, returning two seconds later, both at Naruto's sides, letting out whispers in his ears.

"Here you go," Saria started.

"Our blood-red prince," Unoe finished.

The blonde took the other piece of jewelery and stared at it. It was a simple bracelet; two red strings holding several small, broken-looking dented white beads.

"What is this?" he asked, eyeing the mysterious accessory with a confused expression on his face.

"That, young Uzumaki, is a bracelet containing the bones of the first vampire to ever exist. Which was, of course, a Pureblood. Your father was extremely interested in things that could hold power, which is why he went straight to the ultimate source to get it. Who would have thought he would manage to get away with stealing our most-prized King's bones, hmm?"

Suddenly, the bracelet seemed to hold an air of gore and disgust, but the power rushing through Naruto's veins while holding it, was worth all the grossness.

"It's yours now. It would be considered.. respectful, in your country, to tell you to watch out, Uzumaki-boy, with the power in your hands. But as it is..." Kalika took a breath and exhaled as she said, "I couldn't give a damn."

i What a stuck-up bitch... /i Naruto thought, nodding politely before turning and trying to leave, but Kalika rested her hands on his shoulders, appearing to be hovering over the ground as she let out an echoed breath near his ear.

"You would do well not to insult me, Uzumaki-boy; we can make you suffer in ways you can not possibly imagine."

The fact that her words were off and oriental, only proved to add to the threatening, scary effect.

But instead of freaking out and starting to panic, Naruto nodded again and said, "I'll keep that in mind."

Kalika smirked. "Yes. You do that."

Sasuke and Itachi bowed, so Naruto did the same. The three of them bowed deeper than they would have even for Tsunade, and left only when she told them to.

When she was out of sight, Naruto elbowed his friend and whispered, "Who is she, the goddess of humor?"

Sasuke didn't laugh. He didn't even smile. Instead he glanced back at his blonde friend with a serious expression on his face and replied, "She is the god of all vampires."

It took Naruto a few seconds to unscrew his face back to a normal expression, and he tried to lighten the mood a bit by stating, "Well, I couldn't give a shit who she is or thinks she is. We're immortal. And even if she tried to kill us, I doubt any of us would really be threatened by it. Half the vampires on this earth iwant/i to die."

Sasuke glared at him. "You don't get it, do you?" he snapped, "Kalika-sama is the only vampire on this earth who can go straight uinto/u your head and find out who your most precious people are. She can torture you in ways even you didn't know were possible. She'll gather a bunch of healers to heal you after every time she tortures you, just so she can get the pleasure out of seeing your horrified façade when you realize she's going to put you through hell iall over again/i. And then, as if that isn't enough, she's going to do the same to your precious people, bright in front of your eyes/b. And if you're lucky, and I mean ivery/i lucky, she might let you die a slow, cruel death that includes major blood-loss and suffering. THAT is what she is capable of."

"You know, I get how it must be painful and all, but I still don't get the point of it all. I mean, what if you don't have any precious people, and what if you're so used to all the long on-dragging years, that you just don't give a shit anymore how long the pain lasts?"

"Uzumaki-kun," Itachi interrupted before Sasuke could answer, "first of all, every vampire has, or should have, a Mentor or a Charge. Secondly, there is no way any of us vampires can stand the long-term pain she can provide you with, without going insane. And lastly, Kalika-sama chooses what happens to you iafter/i death as well. As Sasuke has already explained; she is the god of all vampires. She is capable of controlling every ounce of existence, every fiber of your very being, and she is willing to test that power, too. There is nothing she isn't capable of. There are no limits to her power."

Naruto stopped, feeling a chill running up his spine. "Y-you mean that she can decide what happens to you after you die? But is that even possible? Doesn't that go against everything the atheïsts believe in?"

Sasuke sighed. "Let's just enjoy the rest of the banquet," he proposed.

"Yeah. Let's do that..." the blonde agreed, wanting nothing more to do with this 'Kalika'.

As expected, the vampires in the back had completely shut themselves off from everything else that had been going on around them and were already feasting off each other in the comfortable-looking seats underneath the trees.

"Sasuke," Itachi said, motioning toward the raven to follow him. "You can come as well, Uzumaki-san, but I believe somebody is already awaiting you."

Naruto turned around swiftly, expecting Miku or Sakura or someone along those lines. What he saw though, he hadn't in the least expected.

"Sasuke, we'll head to the other side."

"Yes." Sasuke nodded and quickly clapped Naruto's shoulder in a see-you-later kind of gesture, before following his older brother and disappearing from the scene.

"Uzumaki, hello there."

"Well of all people I had expected to see here, it wasn't you," Naruto honestly replied.

"Why not? It's a banquet, isn't it? And aren't I an important member of the vampire chronies?"

"Isn't that a book?"

"And so it is. So tell me, what is a thirsty, powerful vampire to do on a beautiful late night out like this?"

"Hm..." Naruto moved over to his Mentor smoothly, sitting on the other lounger beside him. "I would say..." He started fumbling with the bitemarks on his neck, going over the little holes with his fingers over and over again. "That you should..."

Kakashi leaned in closer to his Charge's neck, about to lower his mask when Naruto suddenly pulled away and said, "Get some powerthirst. The energy drink for men, man."

The blonde stood back up again and started looking for the two Uchiha's whose home he was currently sleeping in, to tell them he was leaving.

"Going home already, Uzumaki?"

"Yup," the blonde replied, clacking his tongue while his eyes dove from scenario to scenario, trying to find Sasuke to ask him for the keys to their mansion.

"Not going to enjoy your holiday?"

"You mean what's left of it."

"Same thing."

"You know, you and I have different points of vieuws on how we enjoy spending our free time. I like idrinking/i more than getting the ilife sucked out of me/i. I know, pretty weird, isn't it?"

"Gosh, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"Your ego," Naruto snapped back. He finally spotted the two ravens and headed straight toward them, but Kakashi pulled him back and slammed him straight into a tree before snapping off the first button on the blonde's shirt and connecting his lips with the teen's throat. It took less than a second for the little fuckers to pierce Naruto's flesh and even less time for the pain to sink in, until all was lost in a world of hazy mirrors and dances with oneself.

The older vampire hissed loudly in his ear as he pulled his fangs back out again and muttered, "You'd do well to remember your place. I am your Mentor, even after school-hours."

"And I am a Pureblood, any time of the day. And definitely now, I am more powerful than you are."

"Why? Because it's late? That works in my benefit as well, you know."

"Never mind. I'm leaving."

"You're leaving," Kakashi repeated, yanking the blonde up by his collar before pressing him back against the tree with his knee and ducking his head again, aiming straight for the pale neck, "when I've had enough," the older vampire finished, sinking his razor-sharp fangs back into the cold skin as though it were whipped cream.

It was only now that Naruto noticed how hollow his Mentor's eyes were and how clear the veins underneath them were. But still, hungry or not, he wasn't going to be pushed around any more.

"Get off of me!" he ordered, pushing the older vampire away. They locked eyes for just a brief second, though it felt like ages that Kakashi's dark ochar pools caught his crystal blues in a menacing grasp, almost as though they were asking him if he wanted to die.

"I'm not a can of soda! You can't just drink from me whenever you please!"

"I'm your Mentor," Kakashi shrugged, "of course I can."

Naruto eyes were on fire and he felt like tearing the living daylights out of the silverhaired male. He really felt like calling upon the power of the necklace and the beads, just to see what would happen when he did, hoping he could kill a fullblood with them.

Naruto pushed the older vampire harshly, but Kakashi wouldn't even stumble. He just stepped back a step. So he pushed him again and again until his Mentor finally fell down and pressing his hands against the older's chest to keep him down, he leaned over and tore right through his Mentor's mask with his fangs, enjoying the warmth of the blood spreading through his limbs on the chilly night-out.

The gulping sounds echoed loudly in his ears and for a moment he felt like bursting out into a chorus of heavy laughter.

"Uzumaki."

He ignored it and kept filling his mouth with the sweet beverage.

"Uzumaki."

Still, he continued.

It was about three seconds later that he felt an immense power underneath him shove him off, causing him to actually hover above the ground for a bit before smacking down on to the earth.

"Aaah, Hatake..."

"Unoe," Kakashi replied, "what gives me the pleasure of seeing you tonight?"

"You're mistreating Kalika-sama's new favourite." It almost sounded threatening. What was going on?

"The Uchiha's are on the other side, Unoe-sama."

"I am not talking about the Uchiha's. She's interested in the Uzumaki."

Kakashi switched his gaze from her to the boy before nearly passing out. "Kalika-sama? In Naruto?"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thanks for your attention.

Gai picked up his frail charge, carefully moving out of the sight of the Main family. He couldn't believe how much they had made his pupil suffer, even after he had almost run completely out of blood. They just kept drinking from him, almost like they really didn't care for him at all. Like he was to be thrown away after that.

The older vampire felt something clench in his chest and had to loosen his grip, realizing he was completely numbing Neji's arm.

He abandoned the facility and sweapt through the afternoon breeze, carrying his charge underneath the dark pink sky, running as fast as his vampire legs could carry him, to the only place he knew was safe. His house was out of the question, since it was so far away. And Neji's was in turmoil now; there was no way he could go there. They would only expect him to already have replenished his blood, since he is "the oh-so-genius-vampire-of-the-branch-family". He hated the way they mocked him for feeling an ounce of self-respect. So what if people called him the genius of the family once in a while? He got the best grades in the whole bloody school! And if there was a way to be a igood/i vampire, then he certainly was. If there were some ridiculous vampire-test, he would've passed it with flying colours!

Stupid Head family... he cursed them for putting his Charge through this hell.

"Yes," Unoe replied, "the Uzumaki is Kalika-sama's new favourite, so I advise you to treat him accordingly."

Naruto brushed himself off and smirked, before turning and leaving. He just hoped beyond hope Kakashi got the message and stayed where he was.

"Well it ain't a party without an idiot, so I guess I'll be going with ithe/i Uzumaki, then."

"Do whatever the hell you feel like," Unoe replied, uncaring, "just make sure he gets back to Kalika-sama in once piece."

"I'll try," Kakashi smirked, if only to ward her off. He wasn't going to be ordered around by someone like Unoe. Kalika-sama, alright. And Unoe might be stronger than him, but she certainly wasn't his boss. He enjoyed annoying her and pushing her buttons.

Naruto was already walking away, deciding to just sneak into the Uchiha mansion if things turn out that way. He had an odd feeling they wouldn't, and that Kakashi was here for a ireason/i besides the banquet. There had to be some kind of explanation for the guy to just show up unexpectedly.

"Hey, mister hot-shot, follow me," the silver-haired vampire ordered.

Ah, and there it was.

"Mmmh..." A pained look covered the brunette's face as he subconsciously turned around (or at least tried) in his Mentor's hold.

"Easy," Gai softly reminded him, "we'll be there soon."

But Neji didn't hear him, being so out of it that he barely understood full sentences.

"I just hope he's home.." Gai muttered.

"You know, I have something to show you."

Naruto stopped. He wasn't used to this kind of talk from his Mentor; especially not on the man's own accord. If he was lucky, he imight/i be able to upush/u Kakashi into spilling something like that, but as of now, it seemed as though the world had flipped around and changed its course.

First he was treated as one of the best vampires that ever lived, and now his Mentor had something to ishow/i him? What was going on? Were they living in upside-down world where he was the genius and Sasuke the hand-me-down-throwaway?

"What is it?" he ask in the end, still determined to find out more about his Mentor. He's always wanted to know why Kakashi could be a stone-cold prick one moment, and a caring guy the next.

And as he'd already expected, Kakashi didn't reply anymore. Naruto knew he wanted to prickle his curiosity to make sure he would follow him, but it didn't matter since he had to follow him anyway. He was momentarily key-less and couldn't get into the Uchiha Mansion looking like anything but an Uchiha. Oh, and let alone getting into the Uchiha District; all those people looked for was black hair and dark brown eyes. Sure, he could play it off as having his mother's eyes, but how would he explain his wild spikes? Something went wrong with his DNA? No. And besides, if something ihad/i gone wrong with his DNA and he was born in the Uchiha family, they would've killed him when he was still a baby. And secretly, he was thankful for being from no-one's clan.

"Ah, here we are."

Naruto looked up and gazed at the normal-sized house; one that was too big to be only for Kakashi. He'd always thought the man lived in some small appartment building with a cat as company or something like that. Preferably a black one, since of course, they were vampires.

Naruto took off his shoes when both were inside and looked around in his search for the black cat. What attacked him, though, was nothing like a cat and nothing less than a surprise.

A huge dog pummeled him straight to the ground and barked loudly in his face, pushing him down with its heavy paws and growling at him.

"Woah, Bull, calm down," Kakashi told the dog in a nonchallant fashion. "Come on, come here," he cooed the bear, (or so Naruto would call it) to the kitchen.

"So what was it you wanted to show me?" Naruto asked, brushing himself off and waiting for the man to return, not in the mood to hang out any longer than he had to.

"It's upstairs."

Naruto visibly paled at that comment and Kakashi could tell.

"In the attic," the older vampire added and his charge let out a slow breath.

"No, I knew that," the blonde lied. 

Kakashi shrugged and left for the attic; Naruto on his heels. But when he wanted to follow Kakashi up the stairs he'd just unfolded, he tripped over a line of 5 other dogs who had skillfully passed him and raced up the stairs to get to their master. 

Upon hitting his head on the hardwood floor, he shouted, "How many bloody dogs do you have?"

Kakashi smirked down at him from upstairs as he scratched one of the dogs behind its ear. "You know, I wouldn't call them 'bloody'; they have their doubts on whether I would eat them or not."

Naruto swallowed and decided to let the comment rest as he -slowly- made his way upstairs as well.

Gai skidded to a stop, certain that his rival's house was around here somewhere. Neji groaned and his Mentor could see the veins underneath his eyes thick out more than was usual. Even with starving vampires, their veins were never as clear as Neji's were now. And even for a composed, older vampire such as himself, something like this was definitely nerve-wracking.

"Hold on, Neji."

"What's that?"

"This here, is a pendant of the symbol of your mother's clan."

Naruto froze.

"Can.. Can I see it?"

Kakashi nodded, but held out his hand.

"What?" Naruto asked, slightly taken aback. 

"I'll swap with you. If you give me that silly little bracelet, I'll give you the pendant."

"If it's so silly, why do you want it?" the blonde asked, anger written all over his face. IWhat a dirty trick!/I

"Well, I have a feeling I can do a great lesson on that. You know, teach the kiddies about Kalika-sama."

"If you wanted to do that, you could have just taken a picture of her and ran."

"Yeah, that is like me, isn't it? But unfortunately, I didn't think about that, and I'm going to need the bracelet now."

"Why do you want it so badly?"

"Because this is a very important lesson."

"Quit lying, I know you are. So just tell me what the meaning of this is and I might consider giving it to you."

Kakashi sighed and hung his head. "Look, Naruto.. that bracelet is more.. powerful, than you can imagine. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen if you just keep it out in the open. We'd better either destroy it or store it away for some other time."

Naruto swallowed. He understood Kakashi's point, but the burning sensation in his chest told him this bracelet was ihis/i and only his. Kakashi wasn't allowed to have the gift ihe/i got from Kalika-sama.

"You're serious?" Naruto smirked. iWell, it might disappoint him, but I want this thing. So I'm just gonna have to play the game here./i "Are you really serious?" He started to laugh. "No offence, sir, but I believe you've gone bonkers. This thing is nothing more than a gift from Kalika-sama and I would much prefer to keep it. After all, you don't get rid of a gift, do you?"

"Naruto, you can't even begin to imagine how dangerous this is!"

"Since when do you care about danger?"

"This is more than just some stupid little fear that our school's reputation might get destroyed! This is the destruction of a whole nation! Or worse; of the entire planet!"

"It's just a bracelet, Kakashi."

The man whacked him against the wall within the blink of an eye. "I'm done playing games with you, Naruto. Hand me the bracelet."

"Fuck off!"

"NOW."

Naruto snarled and hissed, struggling underneath Kakashi's forearm when the vampire tried to snatch his bracelet away.

"IT'S MINE!"

"Yeah, well, so many things are unfair in life. Get used to it."

"Go to hell," Naruto snarled.

"Whoo, somebody hasn't had any blood today."

"Give it to me!"

Naruto's eyes were changing colour and he seemed to take on a mysterious, feline aura. No... it wasn't like that even. It was worse. He seemed like some rabid creature, ready to tear off Kakashi's limbs.

The older vampire backed away a bit, getting into a fighting stance to ward off his charge.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The window to their right shattered and pieces of glass litered the floor. There, between the two, stood a bobby-bowlcut Gai with his charge, Neji, in his arms.

Naruto immediately returned to normal and he gazed over at his friend.

"A match? Oh how very youthful! Let us join after we've fixed Neji up!"

"Gai?" Kakashi asked. He stood up straight and glanced over at the brunette in the man's arms. It wasn't like Gai to actually iseek help/i for his charge, unless something was absolutely wrong. He did the same with himself; he believed his body could heal itself, unless it's so weak it can't even rest.

So, since this was only normal considering it was GAI's student, he wondered if the boy was even still alive.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, you're perfect for the job!"

"Huh?" Naruto raised a brow.

"You see, our young Neji here has lost some of his youthfulness! And we must recover it!"

Neji slightly stirred, groaning raspily.

"O-okay. Just put him down," Naruto ordered, standing on their side. Gai lay Neji down gently and looked up at Naruto expectantly.

"Neji?" Naruto asked, not sure whether the boy could hear him or not. "I'm going to give you some of my blood right now, because I'm going to have to bite you."

Neji stirred pitifully, eyes still shut. It was like the boy's face was frozen or numb or something.

Naruto prepared himself and bit his hand, allowing little droplets of blood to fall into Neji's slightly-parted mouth. He then moved on to Neji's neck and bit as gently as he could, doing his best to transfer all of his energy to the other vampire.

When he pulled back, he motioned to Gai to come over. "He's starved. And I don't mean just in the need of blood, he's about to die. What happened?"

"It was the Head family. They wanted his blood."

"Well I suggest you give him at least half of yours if you want him to stay alive. I'll give him as much of mine as I can give him as well, but the thing is, his body can only really use yours right now. It knows yours and it's worked with yours before. He needs you right now."

Gai nodded and sat on Neji's other side, holding out his arm.

"I'm going to bring him to a state of consciousness," Naruto explained, "but only so he can drink your blood. So don't talk or anything like that. Don't distract him. Not that he will be easily distracted; especially since he's probably going to go wild for blood anyway. Are you ready?"

Gai nodded again and Naruto sucked in a deep breath, before placing his lips back on Neji's neck, only over a throbbing vein, and breathed out.

Neji awoke like a dead person who came back to life, struggling for breath as though he were drowning. His nostrills flared and his eyes were bright red. He looked like some kind of maniac creature. Albeit how near-dead he looked, Naruto had been right and Neji appeared to have enough energy to scrounge his body into an obnoxiously shivering state and sit up straight so he could get to Gai's arm.

Naruto stood up and walked out of the room. Kakashi followed silently and the two of them waited outside until they were done.

"Here you go."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

"So, just out of curiosity; where are you going for the rest of your vacation?"

"Small-talk, Tsunade-sama?"

"Perhaps. Don't avoid the question. Tell me about your life." Her lips curled into an amused smile and he could tell she wasn't the least bit interested in his personal life at all. All she cared about was whether he was going to pull a stupid stunt now that he got his rapport card.

"I think I'll go see some of my friends who're spending the week in Tokyo. You know; big city and all, tourist attractions and whatnot. Looks more like Europe than any part of Japan."

"Yes. You do that."

He bowed, turned, and opened the door to leave.

"Oh, and don't forget to enjoy yourself."

"I will, Tsunade-sama."

"Naruto?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up from his cup of tea. He had been staring at it all afternoon while the three of them waited for Neji to return to his usual self.

"I wanted to thank you," Neji admitted, sitting down beside him. "If it weren't for you, the Head family would have been burying me by now."

Naruto smiled feigntly. "No problem. Just make sure not to scare us like that again."

Neji glanced down. Naruto could tell his eyes were clouded and his thoughts must be the same. "Yes," the boy lied, "I'll make sure to do that."

But the blonde could already tell that such a thing wasn't within Neji's capabilities, and it was impossible to promise such a thing. If the Head family wished to do it over again, they would. As strong as Neji may be, it wasn't within his powers to stop a whole clan.

"Haaaa... that was one tiring train-ride!"

The old lady to his right glanced over at him, but he just ignored her. The second time she glanced over at him, he took a mental note to make sure not to keep looking foreign or strange. And the third time she looked at him, he gave up and smiled at the old lady, before stating,

"Why, you look lovely today, madam! Could you, by any chance, tell me where booth 6 is?"

The old lady grinned a nearly-toothless smile and replied, "Of course young man, it's over there, through that hallway to your right. Do you have a certain destination in mind?"

He smiled. "Aw, much younger than you I'm certainly not. And yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

The woman chuckled cheekily before asking, "Where is it, maybe I can help you?"

"Hiroshima. I'm looking for the Uchiha district. Do you know where it is?"

"Of course! I'll help you find it."

"Thank you!" he smiled big-time and left with the old lady.

Naruto walked the dark streets in silence, trying his best to keep his thoughts from floating to the surface and bothering him. He was already being smothered by worries of his past; this truly wasn't doing him any good.

Still though, he glanced down at his wrist and at the orange pendant his mother had worn before him.

i "You did a good job."

"Hmm?"

"With Neji. You healed him. Good job."

"Thanks."

"So, I guess I should keep myself to my promises."

"What?"

"Here you go." /i

Naruto fingered the pendant Kakashi had nonchallantly dropped into his open hand only minutes ago. He shuddered at the thought of the years it mustn't have gone through in the older vampire's attic, and how cold and lonely it must have been all by itself. And then he realized the thing was just a piece of jewelery and that it didn't have any emotions whatsoever and felt like an idiot for thinking such a thing in the first place. And THEN it snapped into his head that this icky thing had been around his mother's lovely wrist and that he was basically touching something she had touched only a little over a decade ago. And that was what made the tears of blood find their way to his eyes and colour them red.

Being him, he didn't cry. But the tears stinging his eyes were enough for him to know that at least he didn't lack the emotion to be happy over something he ishould/i be happy about. For this was something extremely important, and in a way he was happier with the pendant than he was with the bones-beads.

i Funny word; bones-beads... /i

"And you are?" Sasuke looked the boy up and down, slightly squinting his eyes in a disapproving manner when he took in the sight of the other teen's eyes. Was he a vampire or not?

"Mikeru," the cocoa-haired boy smiled politely, "I came here to see Naruto-san."

"Naruto? You came to the iUchiha district/i to see an Uzumaki?"

"I heard he would be going here. We're friends."

"Right."

Sasuke gave him another sly look, though, before letting him in.

Mikeru immediately searched for his friend, going right up the stairs instead of looking around first. It was weird, especially by taking it into consideration that not only was this not his home and it was sort of rude to barge right in, but also because he shouldn't have a clue where Naruto was.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? MIKU?"

Sasuke hurried upstairs to see what was going on. What he saw, though, he hadn't expected. Naruto grabbed Mikeru by the collar of his shirt and drug him to the other end of the hallway, fummeling in his pocket with his free hand. When he was done, he pushed a little, torn paper against MIkeru's chest and demanded,

"What does this mean?" in a growling voice.

Mikeru merely smiled.

"Is he a vampire?" Sasuke asked.

"He isn't. But I'm pretty sure he's more than a human," Naruto replied.

"I am. But not really. You see, when you were born, several humans were sought out to become your chosen one. These humans were nothing but babies, unable to think or speak for themselves and unwilling to understand what was going on. It was easy to take them."

"Why? What's going on? Why is my clan so important? Why does everybody seem to know more about them than me?"

Out of nowhere, the window in the hallway opened up and Naruto's Mentor, Hatake Kakashi, jumped inside.

"Mikeru-kun, do you mind if I spoke with you?"

"Not a problem, Hatake-sensei."

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "I know he's a teacher, but why are the two of them so formal? School's over; it's vacation. They shouldn't be acting like this."

Naruto nodded. "It's like something bigger is going on besides being a vampire and a human. It's like there's some kind of level two or something. And believe me, if that's the case, I'm gonna be the one to beat the final boss and win the game."

Sasuke's expression turned from "you're right" to "you're an idiot" and he replied, "I don't think that's the case, Naruto. But there just might be some kind of 'level two' or however you put it."

"Let's go eavesdrop."

"Really? ...You just said 'eavesdrop?"

"Well whatever. Let's go listen in on their conversation."

"Good idea."

"I don't believe it would be best if Naruto-kun knew about his heritage."

Mikeru's expression turned from polite to vicious in a split-second. "Then it wasn't such a good idea to give him the pendant, was it, Hatake-sensei?"

Kakashi sweat-dropped. "Indeed it wasn't..."

"At any rate," Mikeru cut in, "I wasn't planning on telling him anything until Kalika-sama gives us the sign. I'm sure she's already lining up everyone she has complete control over. And when she's ready to make Naruto one of her soldiers, I will tell him."

Naruto stepped in. "Tell me what?"

"Konan. Is this her?"

The female with the dark blue hair turned to face her companion.

"Yes. That's her, Yahiko."

The orange-haired man got a little closer to the glass door on the balcony they were standing on, getting a better look at the girl with dark blue hair just like Konan's, only much longer.

"I can't believe Kalika-sama wants a word with iher/i. She doesn't look powerful at all."

"Well, Kalika-sama's orders are strict. We must simply obey."

"I suppose you're right."

"Nothing, Naruto-kun."

"Eavesdropping, Uzumaki?"

"Yes, and for good reason! What're the two of you going on about, why are you being so secretive, and why is it about me?"

"That's a lot of questions which each require more than a day's explanation. So let's start off with something happy, like, for instance, me passing my exams!" Mikeru smiled, but Naruto wasn't easily fooled.

"I'm extremely happy for you, now tell me what the hell's going on."

Mikeru's smile dropped and he stared at the ground. "Unfortunately," he began, "we haven't the permission to tell you. But I can tell you my part, if it helps?"

Kakashi visibly paled and kicked Mikeru's leg underneath the table.

"I don't believe you will know much more about your clan or your family's history. But no-one ever forbade me from talking about myself. So.. I hope it helps."

Kakashi sighed. "I guess there's no helping it."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thank you very much.

sub Previously: "I don't believe you will know much more about your clan or your family's history. But no-one ever forbade me from talking about myself. So.. I hope it helps."

Kakashi sighed. "I guess there's no helping it." /sub

"The babies in the geneology household were usually orphans. They'd lost their parents and didn't have anywhere to go anyways. They were actually fortunate, compared to normal orphans. The Nami-uhm-Uzumaki family was said to be very wealthy and kind. So whomever would be chosen for the heir of the clan was sure to experience great things. That person would also be allowed into great schools, because the heir of the clan would get into great schools as well. And that was the whole point, of course; that they stayed together at all times. Which is why, when your mother turned out pregnant, that your clan started searching for babies that may become your chosen one. Because they couldn't get into the same school and class if they weren't the same age.

"But I wasn't simply picked up from an orphanage. I hadn't lost my parents to a war or anything like that. My parents heard of what was going on and.. uhm.. well, sort of "donated" me, to the Uzumaki family, because they knew I couldn't get anywhere staying with them. It wasn't that they didn't love me or anything, in fact they loved me with all their hearts. Which is why they knew it would be best for me if I stayed with a wealthier family, where I could get a nice future and a good life.

"But things didn't turn out too great. I was an extremely annoying baby. Hehehe. So anyway, the nurses couldn't really take care of me, because I constantly refused everything they gave me. I wouldn't sleep and I didn't eat. It was when the nurses had seriously gotten enough of me, that your mother came to find me late at night. She'd heard about all the trouble I was causing and chose to help out. She told the nurses that I needed "a mother's hand" or something, and managed to pick me up even with her pregnant belly. Apparently, I had gotten extremely attached to you already, because I only stopped crying when she put my hand on her belly, where you were stirring and kicking yourself. It was said that we both calmed down the moment we made this 'link'.

"Which is why they believed I was supposed to be your chosen one. It just sort of turned out that I had extremely fair blood.

And so, we grew up together. We went to the same schools, slept in the same room, brushed our teeth at the same time and everything. I was to be the prince's doubleganger. I was your copy. Your twin brother. I was your chosen one. Every time you needed blood, I would give it to you. And if you were in need of your clan's blood, they would give theirs to you. But I was always around. Every minute of every day."

"And we never fought or argued or disagreed on something?" Naruto asked, completely dumb-struck. It was clear on his face that he didn't like hearing all of this, because this was the first time he actually irealized/i there was a part of his memory that was just gone. That it wasn't like he was just too old already to remember things from so long ago, he really ilost/i a part of his life; an important part.

"Nope. I was trained to learn you inside and out. I knew how to deal with things; how to deal with you. I knew just how to make you happy or cheer you up. Mostly because we were together so much, but also because we made a link long before anyone else did. It's unnatural for a young vampire to make a link, unless they are from a royal family. Which, in your case, was completely normal."

"So, you're saying that I was this spoiled little brat that got everything he wanted?"

Kakashi smirked and said, "Basically," but Mikeru's face said otherwise.

"No. Not at all, really. As much as they loved you, your parents weren't around 99 percent of the time."

"That's not true!"

Naruto and Sasuke gaped wide-eyed at Kakashi, who had a sudden outburst.

"You know it isn't true. They were around loads of times. Tell him."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sama, I can not lie."

"Tell him!"

"It's the truth. They weren't around."

"They uwere/u."

"Wait - how would you know?" Naruto asked, still processing the whole conversation.

"I just do. I saw your parents often enough to know that they were almost always with you. Every time they spoke to the people or went out, you were with them. After you were born, the few times I saw your mother, she had you in her arms."

"How could she, Kakashi-isama/i?" Mikeru asked, dragging out the formal honorific. If you saw him, you would've seen me, wouldn't you?"

And with that question, Kakashi was left speechless.

"You must've been around. Probably a little further off."

"Nope. I was never more than ten feet away from Naruto-san."

"Well then you must've lagged behind. Or I didn't see you."

"How could that be? If he was still a baby, then so was I."

"Then you were ill or something!"

"How could I possibly be? If I were ill, I would have made Naruto-san ill as well."

"Well, whatever it was, I know what I saw, and I know Naruto's parents spent a lot of time with him."

"Prove it."

Sasuke turned to Naruto with a shocked expression on his face. "Naruto!" he managed to sputter, completely befuddled.

"Well, Mikeru's story makes sense. Kakashi-sama's doesn't. I want him to prove it. I want you to tell me what you know about my clan!"

"I can't."

"Yes you can!" Naruto snapped. "You were some kind of servant, weren't you? And if you were a servant, then you are loyal to umy/u clan and you will obey me when I demand you to tell me what happened!"

Sasuke and Mikeru were both awestruck, gazing at the blonde like he had just taken several bricks to the head.

And it was then that Kakashi managed to catch sight of the tears of blood gathering in the corners of Naruto's eyes as the blonde tried his best to contain his anger. It was true that Naruto got frustrated extremely easily, and all of this must be so confusing and annoying to him. To miss out on a part of your life and hear from people who iknow/i what happened that they can't tell you.. it was like they were denying something you have a right to claim. It iwas/i his, wasn't it?

"Excuse us, Sasuke-kun, Mikeru-san." Kakashi stood up and pulled Naruto through the kitchen window with him by the back of his shirt, jumping down from the middle-floor to the ground, where he let go of the blonde and sighed while fummeling through his pockets.

Naruto just gazed at his Mentor's antics, still amazed by what the silverhaired vampire just pulled off.

"This," Kakashi explained, showing him a tiny oval-shaped decoration hanging on a long silver chain, "is a part of your life you forgot about."

Naruto hesitated, but took it eventually and clipped it open.

"Hyuuga-girl!" The voice wasn't angry or disappointed, just boisterous, loud, and foreign. It had a slight naggy tone to it and the fact that the voice's owner was female was definitely clear, despite how boyishly deep it was.

She turned around, only to come face-to-face with the famed Kalika-sama; the woman she had only heard about from her family, despite being so high up in the vampire clans. She knew, from first sight, that this was Kalika, without ever having seen a picture or a drawing from the woman. It was just too obvious.

"Welcome!" Kalika smiled devilishly, curling her lips up in an odd fashion, but one that suited her nonetheless. "Make yourself at home!"

And though she said it, she obviously didn't mean it, since Hinata didn't even get a chair to sit on or a person to hand her coat to. The people who had taken her away in the middle of the night were standing behind her, looking almost like statues, with their arms folded neatly behind their backs the way she had to stand whenever she was called to Tsunade-sama's office. So she copied them and hoped for the best.

"This is just you."

Kakashi said nothing.

"And who's that guy behind y- is- is that-?"

"Yes."

Naruto's eyes filled with tears again. He lightly brushed over the plastic shielding the tiny photo from dirt and other filth with his finger to get a clearer sight on the man who had his hands on a younger Kakashi's shoulders, almost as though he were guarding a son of his. And yet, the man was smiling. He smiled a broad, happy smile, and yet still an angelically refined and peaceful one. It warmed his heart instantly and put him at such ease that he almost dropped the chain.

"W-was he, y-you know, close to you?"

"He took me in when I lost my father. Illegally, though. If the other clan-heads found out, it would've been a problem."

"So, you were, sort of, you know, also a part of my life?"

"Still am, Uzumaki." And though the tone was sort of strict, Kakashi smiled a happy curved-eye-smile and put a hand on the teen's head.

Naruto smiled lightly.

"Alright, alright, break it up."

"Huh?" Naruto turned, taking in the sight of none other than the famous Deidara.

"Where's Itachi?" the other teacher asked.

"Inside," Kakashi pointed at the building.

"Thanks. Oh and by the way, Kakashi, tomorrow, around noon, Tsunade-sama's holding a meeting. Be there."

Naruto chuckled at how Deidara said "be there" about such a boring gathering, but silenced himself when Kakashi kicked him lightly in the shins.

"So, Hyuuga-girl, what is your name?"

"Hinata, Kalika-sama."

"Hi~na~ta," Kalika repeated, pronouncing it almost as though she were tasting the vowels on her tongue.

"Yes m'am." The poor girl shifted her weight from foot to foot, wondering why on earth she was here in the first place.

"Well Hinata, I have a special assignment for you. Are you willing to listen?" Kalika asked, resting her chin on her fist, gazing at the ground, appearing almost bored.

"Of course, Kalika-sama."

The female vampire grinned, looking up and back into Hinata's eyes with demonic, blood-red glinting eyes. "Good."

"Kind of weird, isn't it?" Sasuke asked, flopped down on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

Naruto sat down on his bed pushed against the other wall and cocked his head a little. "What do you mean?"

"Well, first they were being so secretive about it, and now it's suddenly like you're allowed to know everything. It's just weird. Almost like they're lying."

"Why would they lie about such a thing?"

"I dunno', I'm just saying.. giving up all those years of keeping a secret on a whim... Either something really big is going on, or they're lying to you. That's my best answer."

"Well I admit that it'd be stupid to suddenly give up on all that. But then again, Mikeru had to go to Summer School and Kakashi-sama isn't too keen either, so.."

Sasuke awarded him with a snort and Naruto laughed. "Just sayin'."

"Mikeru."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"You watch Naruto. I have a feeling Kalika-sama is gonna want something to do with him very soon. I'm going back to the school for a meeting."

"Yes, Kakashi-sama. You know I'm up for the job."

Was that a wink?

"Yes, I know you are... Say, Mikeru.."

"Hmm?"

"What you said earlier; about me having to have seen you around.. were you lying about something?"

"Hm.. perhaps I was." And there was that devilish smile again.

"It's UNBELIEVABLEEEEEE, un!"

"Deidara-kun, keep your voice down. You're straining my ears."

"Oh sorry, 'Tachi-san! It's just that I can't believe what you just said!"

"What's so unbelievable about a new teacher?"

"A new ANCIENT THEORY teacher!"

"Deidara-kun."

"Right, right, I'll keep my voice down." He pouted a little and looked away before looking back at Itachi with excitement displayed all over his face. Obviously he had another question. "So, who's the new teacher?"

"Orochimaru."

Deidara's jaw fell down until it smacked against the ground and curled its way back up to his mouth again. "Say whaaat?"

"And Kabuto is going to be the new doctor. Shizune will return to her title as 'nurse'."

Deidara lost his composure and nearly toppled right over the sofa. "Since when are they interested in teaching? Orochimaru is creepy and snakey and Kabuto is like Arthur, only evil and older!"

Itachi sighed. "Deidara-kun, inside voice."

"Right, right... So, do you think Orochimaru will be up for teaching the brats about vampires or?"

"Well, if he took the job I'm sure he's prepared to do it."

"Actually, I kind of meant it other way around."

"It's not like they really have a choice, Dei. We'll just do what we do every year."

"Yeah, you're right; it's the best way to do it without getting the kids whining about it."

"Which they always do, in the end."

Deidara chuckled. "Indeed they do, 'Tachi-san!"

"..."

"Inside-voices, Deidara-kun," Deidara told himself, mimicing Itachi's voice.

"B-but what if N-Naruto-kun-"

"Naruto-kun will be fine, darrr~ling," Kalika assured her, cupping Hinata's chin and making the girl look her in the eye, "I promise you."

"O-of course I-I trust you, Kalika-sama, but what if, perhaps, somebody made a mistake or something idoes/i go wrong?"

Suddenly, Kalika slapped her across the cheek, sending Hinata flyig meters further and landing roughly in the grass, where she curled up into a ball, placing her hand on her cheek -which had skipped the step of turning red and just went straight to bright white instead-.

"You bitch!" she yelled, but not in an angry way. More in a hurt kind of way. Like she actually felt betrayed. "You do not trust me! she accused Hinata in that foreign-dialect of hers. "How can I trust you with my heart and you treat me like this?"

"I-I'm sorry Kalika-sama! I'm so sorry! I trust you, I do! I really, really do!"

Almost instantaneously, Kalika's hurtful expression turned to one of contentment and pleasure. Her stiff body returned to her usual, relaxed position and the area was once-again filled with a sense of scary ease.

"Good."

Previeuw next chapter:

"So... Back to school, huh.."

"Yup. Back to school."

"Sasuke, what's that in your hand?"

"..."

"Is that my jawbreaker?"

"..."

"SASUKE GIMME BACK MY JAWBREAKER!"


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thank you very much.

sub Previously: You bitch!" she yelled, but not in an angry way. More in a hurt kind of way. Like she actually felt betrayed. "You do not trust me! she accused Hinata in that foreign-dialect of hers. "How can I trust you with my heart and you treat me like this?"

"I-I'm sorry Kalika-sama! I'm so sorry! I trust you, I do! I really, really do!"

Almost instantaneously, Kalika's hurtful expression turned to one of content and pleasure. Her stiff body returned to her usual, relaxed position and the area was once-again filled with a sense of scary ease.

"Good." /sub

The two boys stood in front of the gates of the Uchiha District, waiting for Itachi to bring the car around. A slow gust of wind fussed their hair as they prepared themselves for another year of spending time with humans they weren't allowed to touch. Not in ithat/i way, of course. After all, it would be a disgrace if a vampire had a child with a human. Which is why they usually turn them into vampires before going to that particular base.

"So... Back to school, huh.."

"Yup. Back to school."

"Sasuke, what's that in your hand?"

"..."

"Is that my jawbreaker?"

"..."

"SASUKE GIMME BACK MY JAWBREAKER!"

But Itachi had already stopped the car and waited patiently for the two of them to get in. Sasuke took the vacant seat in front just in case Naruto might try to get his bittersweet candy back.

"You don't even LIKE candy," the poor blonde muttered, getting in the back. "You'd better not lick it."

Sasuke turned around in his seat to face Naruto and looked from the jawbreaker his friend before rolling the thing over his tongue, leaving behind a long, thick stripe...

"Hey, Mikeru, did you hear that?"

"Hmm?"

"That yell."

Mikeru turned to face Neji. "Nope, can't say that I have."

Itachi was glad to be able to let the two of them out. Finally, after five hours of driving, making it now precisely 12:00 o'clock, he parked the car and got out immediately. He took a glance at the blonde, thinking back at what Kakashi-senpai had told him.

i "She needs him for one of her plans. Whatever happens, we can't let him get any more power than he already has. We need to keep Naruto beneath the radar for now. He'll get cocky and start ulooking/u for her if not." /i

He then took a glance at his little brother, mentally scratching an item off his to-do list. "Sasuke," he said.

The other raven-haired vampire got out of the car and sighed, crossing his arms and leaning back against the hard brick of the back of the school.

Naruto already knew what was going to happen and bid the two of them farewell. Itachi didn't really catch the blonde's words, but understood that he was leaving. He bit the back of his index finger and let Sasuke drink. After all, it would take another couple of months before he would be able to give Sasuke any more of his blood. It was just the two of them, now. There would be no more generous sharing.

iCan't believe I'm protecting the boy who's partly the reason for this../i

"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaru-chan!"

iUgh, not THAT voice.../i the blonde thought, not surprised anymore to find Yamato suddenly behind him, giving him a whack on the shoulder before landing on his feet beside him.

The boy coughed before turning to his Mentor. "Hi."

"Welcome back!"

"Same to you. How's it been?"

"Hmm." Yamato grabbed his chin and cocked his head, deep in thought.

"It's just a simple question."

"Nonono, that's not it, it's just, everything has been fairly good, up until the point where I got some really bad news."

"What's that?"

"Well, you heard about the whole human-vampire-human-vampire incident thingy, right?"

"..Yeah.."

"So now, I found out that the guy who totally ripped me off is going to teach here!" said the flabbergasted Yamato.

"What?"

"I know!" As though Yamato wasn't in drama-mode enough, he switched over to super-drama-Yamato and he shut his crossed eyes, pouting in endless sorrow and crying crocodile tears. "It's as though life has made me its personal shit-dump!"

"Alright, alright, calm down." Naruto patted him on the shoulder, but felt odd doing it. iTelling my MENTOR what to do... Awkward./i

"But the good part is!" Yamato started, suddenly up on his feet and happy again, pushing Naruto against the hallway wall. The few students scattered in the hallway all entered classrooms, leaving the two of them alone. He stroked Naruto's cheek with the back of his index finger, going all the way down to his collarbone. He breathed in deeply, as though the connection with the blonde's skin would bring him closer to his beating heart. "This year will be the year... the two of us connect."

"But aren't we already-"

"This time for real." Yamato's facial expression was suddenly extremely serious and Naruto fidgeted under his Mentor's stare.

Out of nowhere, Kiba came, striding through the hallway with two books resting on his shoulder as he made his way to his next class.

Yamato stepped away from Naruto and turned to face Kiba with that same silly expression he was known for. "Hello there, Kiba-kun! You're late, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda'," Kiba admitted, not the least bit fazed. He wasn't afraid of getting into trouble with Yamato. Then again, who would be?

"Which class? If you want, you can use my name for an excuse."

"Math. Kurenai-sama is gonna' kill me."

"Well, just tell her Yamato-sensei wanted a word with you. I'll back you up."

"Gee, thanks!"

"No problem. You hurry up, now. What about you, Naruto?"

"Uh, I kinda' have iyour/i class right now, sensei."

"..."

"Sensei?"

"I think you're screwed Naruto. Well, catcha' later." Kiba held up two fingers and left to find Kurenai-sensei's class.

"Seeeeeeensei?"

Out of the blue, Yamato snapped out of his trance and yelled, "WE'RE LATE! WE'RE LATE!" he wailed, grabbing Naruto by his collar and running as fast as the speed of light to his classroom.

"Relax! It's only -kcchh- ethics!"

Yamato kicked open the door with the force of a mother bear protecting its cubs. "Class! I'm so sorry I'm late! I had no idea I was supposed to be teaching right now.." Yamato confessed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "In fact!" He brought Naruto in sight. "I was so caught up in trying to help this poor soul choose a good study division, that I forgot about my responsibilities as a solidary teacher! Please forgive me!"

Half the class wasn't even listening anymore, being so used to Yamato's rants by now. The girls all found it cute, and most of the boys did too, though they wouldn't admit it. Of course, they wouldn't call it 'cute', but 'stupid in a funny way'. Truth be told, they'd way rather have Yamato, who excused himself for being late, than Itachi, who scolded ithem/i for being late.

"So, Ethics, Ethics..." Yamato strode through the classroom, to his blackboard by the window. He'd moved it after the second day he started teaching, claiming that he could focus better with nature around him. Of course, the sight of educational matters plastered onto a Spring-green setting was admittedly beautiful. At least, compared to the dull black-on-brown-on-yellow setting in most of the other classrooms.

"Okay! Let's start with Human rights!"

"Well then, time for lunch!" Naruto said to himself, smiling lightly. He was looking forward to finding his generous Sakura-chan and the rest of the gang.

On his way to the cafeteria, he met Mikeru in the hallway, fumbling with his locker. After a load of trying to crack his own code, he just whacked his forehead against it, surprised to hear the lock click and realize he just opened his locker.

"Mikeru-san. What are you up to?"

"San? San? What's with the san?" Mikeru whined, attempting to look hurt. "After hearing my beautiful tale of eternal friendship and brotherhood, all you can do is prefer to me as Mikeru-SAN?"

iHas everybody gone bonkers or is there some kind of school play going on that I don't know about?" Naruto thought, heaving a sigh and patting Mikeru's shoulder before moving on. "Nevermind, Mikeru-san."

"Aaaaaahhhgh," the cocoa-haired boy wailed, dropping to his knees as though he were a ghost, crocodile tears spraying from his eyes.

"Jeez..."

"Naruto!"

And there was her beloved voice already.

The blonde felt like he was flying. Floating up, up, up and - "WAUGH!" There he went, crashing down.

"I can't believe you spent a whole summer with Sasuke-kun and never even bothered to ask me over! I could have been there, by his side, at New Year's eve, instead of wondering what he was doing, who he was kissing and-"

"He was feasting off his brother, okay? Now let me go!"

Sakura's angry-eyes turned to heartbroken-eyes and she started weeping crocodile tears just like everybody else, swinging around chibi arms and shaking chibi legs, pouting like a girl who lost her mother in a crowd. "Sa-Sa-Sasuke-kun is-is-is g-gay?"

"What,no! And EW!"

"Well, if he were, it would be sort of, you know, cute, in a sad way, but still cute. But incest..."

"HE'S NOT IN LOVE WITH HIS BROTHER!"

Suddenly, the whole cafeteria was quiet and people stared at him.

"E-ehe...heh...crap."

After Naruto had seated himself with his gang again and they all said their hello's and welcome back's, Naruto and Sakura discussed what they had been talking about previously while the others exchanged vacation info and other blab.

"Na-Naruto-kun.."

"Huh?" The blonde turned around to face none other than Hyuuga Hinata; Kiba's girlfriend.

"I-I have something for you. But I can only give it to you later on. So I-I was wondering if you co-could meet me after school?"

"Uh. Sure. Where?"

"At the front of the school."

"O-okay."

She smiled and scurried off.

"What was all that about?" Kiba asked, eyeing him suspisciously. 

"I have no idea. Maybe it's about what happened with Neji the other day..." Naruto muttered, mostly to himself, biting on the tip of his thumb.

His table was silent for a few seconds, but only a few, before he was bombarded with questions.

Tenten was in her high spirits today, especially now.

"Today will be the day!" she chanted.

"The day of what?" Naruto asked.

"The day I prove to Deidara-sama what true art is!"

"How so?"

"Well, he's been telling us about how blasts are beautiful, right? Which is why he want us to make as many things explode as we can during Chemistry, right?"

"He's lucky Itachi-sama is too strict to let us do so," Sasuke added.

"Yes, well, everybody has their own rules. So anyway, I told him, that no-way, could a stupid blast be the most beautiful thing that exists. And today is the day I prove to him how beautiful weapons are!" She smiled so happily she seemed like she could melt any moment now.

"What're you talking about?" Naruto asked again, trying to get a straight answer from her this time.

She smirked evilly and let her glassy nails show through as she answered, "Tonight I'm going to mark him."

"Mark him? Why?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"Well, first of all, I absolutely idetest/i sharing him with Gaara."

"I thought you didn't like Deidara-sensei?"

"Well, his teaching-methods are a little off, but he's my Mentor. I can't really dislike him. I'm bound to him."

"So? I'm not too fond of Kakashi-sama, either."

"But you can't hate him, right?"

"I guess not, no."

"Well there we go!"

"But why are you jealous of Gaara, anyway? You practically have Gai-sensei as well. He probably thinks of you as one of his charges."

"Well, sure that flatters me, I guess. It's just that I'm no good with that, am I? I'm bound specifically to Deidara-sama. But so is Gaara-kun. Which means we both get half of the blood Deidara-sama is willing to give us."

"So?"

"So, Gaara can get all the blood he wants because he's from a royal family. He can snap his fingers and be presented with 10 people with the exact blood he loves within the second."

"And you can't, is that it?"

"Well, all I'm saying is, I think I should get Deidara-sama's undevided attention, since Gaara-kun has everything he wants already anyway. It would be unfair if he still got my share of Deidara-sama's blood."

"Wait wait wait, you lost me there."

"Aaah, you're so stupid sometimes, Naruto! Look; out of the 100% of blood pumping through Deidara-sama's body, he gives us 30%. Which means we each get 15%. Barely enough to satisfy me, mind you. So anyway, to me, that 30% he gives us should all go to me. Gaara can fill twice the amount he needs to survive within the second. While Deidara-sama gives us our 15% only once a week."

"You know, I don't understand why you're so obsessed with Deidara-sensei. He's just another body containing some blood. Go find it elsewhere if you really want it so badly."

"You don't understand, Naruto. It's not because uyou/u go around nibbling every girl's neck without getting kicked out of school, that people likeume/u can risk getting expelled."

"Hey, what do you mean with that?"

Tenten sighed as she pushed open the door to the Fysics lab. "Look, all I'm saying is, we all know you're Tsunade-sama's favourite."

"I'm so NOT."

"She's right," Sasuke replied.

"Huh? Where'd iyou/i suddenly come from?"

"I was here the whole time, dobe."

"Hey, you still owe me a jaw breaker!"

"Short brat and emo prince, shut the hell up and sit down!"

"Hai, Deidara-sensei," the two of them grumbled, furious over the nicknames they'd both gained over the years.

Tenten turned around from the bench in front of them and winked at Naruto playfully, curling her fingers and showing off her long, glassy vampire nails, hinting to him that it was almost time for her to strike. She lipped the words, 'Wish Me Luck'.

"I'm not ithat/i short, am I?" Naruto asked as they exited the classroom. Sasuke looked over at him, before shrugging and stating, "You're shorter than I am."

"But just by an inch!"

"An inch is an inch."

"And what do you mean by ithat/i?"

"If a girl were an inch taller than you, it'd be a big deal."

"So you're saying I look like a girl?" Naruto growled.

Sasuke sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're so tiresome sometimes, Naruto. Honestly, there are times when I wonder how you got in this school in the first place."

Normally Naruto would just shrug his friend's behavoir off, after all, it was like Sasuke to say stuff like that. But right now, it all sounded so heart-felt; like he honestly meant what he was saying.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a while of silence.

Sasuke sighed and continued walking without answering.

After the seventh period was over, Naruto headed for Biology with a headache. Sasuke was ignoring him. Seriously, he didn't say a word to him all through Economy. Even when Kakuzu started babbling about book-keeping; a course they weren't going to take next year anyway. Sasuke would be studying law, and Naruto wanted to do something with languages. So there was no reason at all (a valid one at least) that Sasuke should ignore him! What was going on?

"Hello there!"

Oh no, not this. He couldn't deal with any more stupid people. Wait - was that what was troubling Sasuke? That he was dumber than him?

"Yeah, well, if that's what the jerk thinks, he can go cut his own balls off and eat them cos I am NOT an idiot!"

"Uh, I don't think this involves me, does it?" Kakashi asked, pointing at his own face.

Naruto looked up, shocked. "Huh? Was I thinking out-loud?"

Kakashi nodded. "So how was the remainder of your vacation?"

Naruto kicked at a cover for a marker. "It was fine."

His Mentor didn't seem to believe it one bit, but went along with the story. "Really?" he asked, while stepping toward Naruto, who took a step back. The blonde's eyes grew larger as he took another step and another, until their arms nearly brushed against each-other and he was in such shock that he took another million steps back until he slammed into something else.

He turned around, apologizing already, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" in a tone of relief. Then he saw who it was, standing there, looking down at him with an eager rape-face as he swallowed and blinked and repeated the process, only slower. Yamato leisurely slung an arm around him and turned him around with that arm, before heading toward the janitor's closet, which was scarily close by now, and Naruto realized he didn't have a choice, what with Kakashi behind the two.

He got pushed in and by now his heart was beating so quickly he doubted if he'd have any time to breathe at all before this was over. iOh come on,/i he thought, iI was so hoping I could get outta school without being raped/i.

And then he could feel it. It was just a slight brush of skin against his neck and he shut his eyes. Then he felt something silky against it before it slid all the way round and tightened. He opened his eyes again when he heard the door open and saw Yamato waiting for Kakash in the doorway.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked.

Kakashi turned around. "Wear it. You're only getting one," he said, before heading into his classroom.

He looked down and spotted the blue tie, stitched with yellow around the sides. iSo that's what it was all about../i He sighed a sigh of relief before his eyes popped open to size of golfballs and he shouted, "THEN WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THE MYSTERIOUSNESS FOR?"

From somewhere far, far, far away, he heard a female voice shout, "It's mystery, you oaf!"

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE YOU CAN SAY BOTH!" he shouted at whoever that person was. "Jeez I wish she would stop following me around..."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thank you very much.

sub Previously: Kakashi turned around. "Wear it. You're only getting one," he said, before heading into his classroom.

He looked down and spotted the blue tie, stitched with yellow around the sides. iSo that's what it was all about../i He sighed a sigh of relief before his eyes popped open to size of golfballs and he shouted, "THEN WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THE MYSTERIOUSNESS FOR?"

From somewhere far, far, far away, he heard a female voice shout, "It's mystery, you oaf!"

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE YOU CAN SAY BOTH!" he shouted at whoever that person was. "Jeez I wish she would stop following me around..." /sub

It was dark. And it got darker with every step he took. And then, suddenly, there was a bright flash of light that illuminated whatever universe he was in and he had to shut his eyes to keep himself from going blind. And then he heard his name being called.

"Naruto!"

There were two voices. One male and one female. The male one sounded rich and warm. The female one sounded cheerful and motherly. He opened his eyes slightly and took in the vague sight of a man and a woman without faces, but he could tell that their bodies were definitely full-grown and that they were smiling or laughing or something like that.

"Naruto, come over here!"

"Come here, son!"

"Son...?" he whispered, subconsciously reaching out ever-so-gently before he started to run.

"Come here, sweetheart."

And there was laughter. They were both laughing happily. For a moment, he felt a small smile tugging at his lips, and then there was this pressure coming from nowhere that knocked the air out of his chest and he realized he got pulled back by his arm.

He turned around to see which dipshit had the nerve to steal away his happiness and took in the sight of his silverhaired mentor.

"You can't go, Naruto."

"What? Go where? Let go of me!"

"You can't see them."

"Why not?"

"You can't know them."

"What the fuck is your problem, man!"

"You can't."

"I can do whatever the fuck I feel like! Let go of me!"

"You can't."

And then, a swarm of black smoke surrounded him and he got sucked into darkness again. The only sound he could hear was the repetition of the words "You can't".

"Naruto! Oi, Naruto, wake up!"

"I can!"

"Snap out of it, man!" Shikamaru demanded, shaking the blonde as harshly as I could, resisting the urge to slap him in the face.

Then the blonde suddenly caught his breath and locked eyes with the person who'd woken him. Said person sighed and muttered, "Troublesome".

"Right then," Kiba started, "Once you guys are done doing your homosexual stuff, I suggest you find Hinata, Naruto. She was looking kind of upset that you didn't show up yesterday."

"Huh? What?" Naruto asked as Shikamaru crawled off his bed.

Shikamaru sighed and fiddled with his ear before replying, "Remember at lunch? She told you she wanted to speak with you after school."

"OH CRAP!"

"Yeah, well, I suggest you go speak to her later on, or she might think you're avoiding her or something," Kiba added.

"Of course." Naruto got up and got dressed quickly, muttering curses under his breath.

Naruto sped up and headed over to Hinata, who was in her turn heading for her mentor; Kurenai-sensei.

"Hinata!" he called, but the girl was occupied by her own business as she chanted, "Happy Mentor's day, Kurenai-sama!" with a smile on her face as she revealed the package she'd been hiding behind her back.

Kurenai's lips curled upwards and she smiled back at Hinata as she received her present. "How thoughtful of you, Hinata-chan. Thank you very much."

It was the second time that morning the air got knocked out of Naruto's lungs and he strongly considered buying some kind of pocket-agenda.

Kurenai stowed the gift away in her bag and Hinata turned around because she thought she'd faintly heard somebody call her name earlier. "Ah- Naruto-kun!" she stammered upon noticing the blonde teen.

"Y-you said you had to tell me something?" Naruto asked, sort of nervous.

Kurenai smiled, amused by the two teens' antics, before turning around and leaving for her class. She knew when a young couple needed privacy. And though they might not realize it yet, she could tell that the two of them would be together someday in the near-future. And if their own love wouldn't accomplish that, the fact that they were both from big, important families, would. It didn't matter it they were in love, actually. Naruto and Hinata would both end up with somebody from either their own clan, or with somebody who's also from a big clan.

And seeing as Hinata obviously liked Naruto and Naruto couldn't marry anyone from his own clan cos they were all dead, it was pretty clear that they would wind up together. Both were attractive young people and both were kind deep inside. The only problem was, Kurenai wasn't sure if Naruto was even into girls. Sure, he's always been talking about his precious Sakura-chan, and he certainly dresses like a guy, but he looked kind of girly. It was his eyes, probably. Or maybe it was just Kurenai? She was more attracted to the extremely manly men. The tall, burny tanned ones, who went about spitting bullshit like, 'Smoking sigarrettes is cool' and 'Men are stronger than women', but if she told him to stop saying nonsense like that, he would. Because she liked feeling special.

"Kurenai-sensei," she heard somebody call just as she was about to enter her classroom.

"Yes?" she asked, turning around to face none other than Hatake Kakashi- a close friend of Asuma's and her colleague (mind you one of her favourite ones).

"Have you seen Sora around anywhere? Can't seem to find the little bugger."

"Why, no. I haven't. Is there a problem, Kakashi-kun?"

"Not particularly. Well, I'll see you around then, Kurenai-sensei. Thanks."

"Kalika-sama? Why?"

"I don't really know, Naruto-kun. All I know is that she wanted to see you."

"Alright. So... at lake Jusanko. At what time?"

"Midnight."

"Midnight? But that's when classes start for the fifth graders. I can't sneak out without being caught."

"Ne... Naruto-kun... You.. You're known to be able to sneak out of class a lot. And you used to be a prankster. So.. I believe in you. I know you can do this."

"You know, Hinata, you're a really nice person."

"Eh?" she looked up, face flushed and voice even softer than before.

"Well, thanks for the information. See ya."

"Bye.. Naruto-kun..."

"Good-mooooooooooooorning, Naruuuuuuuuu-chan!"

"Oh holy crap."

And there he was; leaping through the huge cantine to get to his precious little charge and landing quite nicely beside him before giving him a thump on his shoulder.

"Hello Yamato-taichou."

"Hey hey hey, did you know, did you know, those friends of yours are all celebrating their Mentors, so they decided to throw all the Mentors a party in the Vampire Lounge. Are you coming?"

"Uhh... What time?"

"Uhmm... I believe... if I'm correct... uh... about six o'clock."

"We'll be celebrating something special then."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously there's a reason why we aren't eating with the rest of the school."

"Which is?"

"You Mentors are gonna be sucking our blood."

Yamato merely laughed. He patted Naruto on the shoulder and bid him farewell with the words, "I've got a class to teach and you've got a Chemistry test. I'll bid you farewell and I'll see you at six."

"Yeah. See ya... Hey, wait a minute! How did you know I've got a Chemistry test?"

But Yamato just laughed again and waved him off, disappearing in the next hallway.

"Hmph. How come everyone seems to know so much lately? I really should get some kind of notepad or something."

"Blondie, take a seat; the class has already started."

"Yes, Itachi-sensei."

He went over to take a seat next to Sasuke, but found it was already taken by Sai. He would've asked something about it, but realized that not only could everyone hear him, but he was also sixteen and making a big scene would've damaged his reputation... for good. I mean, who ever heard of a sixteen-year-old boy asking another boy why there was this other boy in his seat during class? There're just too many boys in that equation. People would suspect him to be gay.

So he took a seat beside Gaara instead. And only now did it cross his mind that he hadn't seen Gaara for days. Nevertheless, the redhead greeted him with a swift nod before returning to his sheet of paper. Naruto sat down, received his own, and started. The only problem was that he couldn't concentrate. Because of the way Itachi's eyes glinted as he handed him his test, and how they were exactly similar to Sasuke's eyes when the other raven's gaze flicked up for just a second and locked with his electric blue ones before returning to his paper.

iWhat on earth did I do?/i he wondered, trying to focus on Chemistry but failing. Chemistry was too annoying. He didn't like all the formulas and the way there was only one right answer for every question. He didn't like how he couldn't talk his way out of the test with big words the way he usually could. And if one thing was wrong on your presentation of an experiment, Itachi-sensei would grade it as being completely wrong. He hated that, too. He used to be quiet about it and swallow the bullcrap because he's Sasuke's brother and Mentor, but right now... he wasn't so sure he would just take this shit anymore.

After five more minutes of brainstorming, he stood up with an aggrevated sigh and handed Itachi-sensei his test.

"Done already, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked calmly, scanning the test quickly and setting it down on his desk gently.

"Yup."

"Then I guess you can go; there is no need to stay in class. This lesson is spent on that test alone."

Naruto wanted to ask more, but Itachi simply smirked that tiny, tiny, tiny smile of his before touching the skin underneath his eye, implying that Naruto had gotten hunger-veins there.

Naruto pouted as he walked through the hallway. Certainly, it wasn't something he did often. But in times like these, serious action had to be taken!

Not only was it true that he was sort of thirsty (probably because his precious Sakura-chan didn't feel like feeding him that morning), but he felt crappy and alone cos Sasuke was being so pricky. What had he done?

"You've got to be kidding me."

Naruto looked up quickly. "Sora?"

"And here I was, thrilled to bits to be able to tell you that in the end I idid/i manage to get my hands on your blood, but seeing you like that makes me feel sick to my stomach."

"Seeing your face makes ume/u feel sick to my stomach, but you can't always get what you want."

"Sorry blondie, it was too close to what I said. Didn't work."

"Pfeh. What doesn't work is your hairstyle. Looks like-.." What idid/i it look like? He couldn't say it looked like a duck's butt, nor an iceberg, or like a tortoise shell. "Looks like you need to learn the difference between boys' and girls' hair, brotha."

"You know what really doesn't work? Your humor lately. You look like shit and your comebacks are slow. I know I'm gonna regret this, but... what's going on?"

Naruto was about to give him one of his evil faces, but then realized that perhaps Sora may be able to help, so he took a deep breath and replied, "Just Sasuke. Maybe you know what's gotten him so down lately?"

"Jeez. And here I was, thinking you imight just/i be straight. But hell no, forget that now."

"How so?"

"You're really in love with Sasuke, aren't you?" Sora spat at him.

"WHAT? EW! NO WAY! I'M STRAIGHT YOU FREAK!"

"There's no problem with gays, you fucking hypocrite!"

"Who are YOU calling a hypocrite! You just told me you had a problem with me liking Sasuke!"

"Ah, so it's true, then?"

Naruto yelped and turned around, facing none other than his other Mentor, Hatake Kakashi. "Ka-Ka-Kakashi-sama. I hope you're smart enough to realize that what I just said wasn't true at all." He slowly felt his mentality wabbling, about to burst.

"Really? What a let-down. And here I was, telling Jiraiya and Tsunade all about the two of you being together. Bummer."

"That isn't even funny as a joke," Naruto scoffed, folding his arms and turning his head the other way with shut eyes.

"So what're you out here for? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Itachi-sensei said he didn't need me anymore. I mean, you know, in class. I finished my test early and he said that's all we'd be doing all lesson long."

Kakashi was silent for a bit, and Naruto started to worry a little.

"Is that abnormal or something?"

"Sort of. Anyway, don't worry about it. What you ishould/i worry about, are those hunger-veins beneath your eyes. Got yourself in a mess again, Uzumaki?"

"No," the teen scoffed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his tin of blood pills. He slid it open and dumped three pills on his tongue, swallowing them dry.

"Whatever. You guys are all just a bunch of losers. I'm outta' here."

Sora wanted to escape and get back to some sort of reality, filled with humans who were normal and dreamt about weird people like these, but found himself caught in a head-lock and got carried away with his Mentor.

"I was looking for you. No; Tsunade-sama was looking for you. And since I got the lovely task of babysitting you, I get the pleasures of accompanying you," Kakashi remarked, sarcastically.

Naruto grinned, happy to find out Sora was finally getting into some kind of trouble. It was enough of a trouble to have to deal with the dick; it was more fun watching him get aggrevated.

"Ugh, brilliant," Sora muttered.

"Let's go," Kakashi ordered, and the two were off.

Naruto decided to stroll around the school grounds, being it so that he had nothing better to do anyway. Sasuke was still busy with his test, so there was no way he could talk to the Uchiha. And Mikeru was busy, too. So were Neji, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, and his other mates.

"Now, about tonight... How am I gonna pull that one off?"

"Pull what off?"

"Huh?" He turned around and came face-to-face with a boy who was much younger than him. "Who are you?"

"Korugo Shinji."

"Korugo... Korugo... Hey, wait! Are you related to Mitaku?"

"He's my aniki (older brother), why?"

"I know him. I didn't know he had a family, though. I thought they were all dead."

"Yeah, they were supposed to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Miku's adopted, you dingbat."

"What the hell does that have to do with supposed to be dead?"

The boy shrugged. "I'm ten. You figure it out."

"Ugh, whatever. Why're you here?"

"To get him. He needs a check-up."

"Check-up? Why?"

"You're pretty dumb for a sixteen-year-old, aren't you?"

"Shut up and tell me what you're talking about!"

"I can't shut up and tell you something at the same time, moron."

"Aaargh! Just tell me!"

"It's none of your business," the boy bluntly stated, folding his arms across his chest and looking Naruto staight in the eye - unafraid.

"You know you're standing on the grounds of a school for vampires, right?"

"Yes."

"And do you know I'm a vampire? If I wanted to, I could bite that precious little neck of yours any time I feel like it."

"Go right ahead and try."

Naruto frowned. "You're not scared?"

"Why should I be? I'm a vampire, too."

"Really now?" Naruto asked, eyebrows raised. "Which are you?"

"Half-blood. Mikeru turned me. Well, found someone to turn me."

"What? Why?"

"I asked him to."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I was ill. In a life-threatening situation. He told me there was a way to heal me, but it wouldn't be pleasant. And I didn't want to die, so I gave him permission to turn me into a vampire. We gave my parents the same explanation, and the only thing they could think of to repay Mikeru was to help him off the streets."

"... He's a nice guy."

"Am I really?"

Naruto turned around, coming face-to-face with Mikeru. The other teen was smiling, but not really. His eyes were sad, yet his mouth curled up into a luminous smile.

"Yeah, you are."

"There was no other way to heal me," the boy explained.

"And yet, now here you stand, mouth dry and a nearly-unbeating heart."

"If it weren't for you, it would be as silent as the grass you're standing on."

"I guess you're right, otouto (little brother)."

"Let's go Mikeru, mother told me to get you home before three."

"Right. See you, Naruto-kun."

"Y-yeah. Bye." He wanted to tell Mikeru he wished him all the best and that he hoped his check-up wasn't for anything serious, but he couldn't. He didn't know why he couldn't tell Mikeru he wanted him to be alive and healthy. He didn't why he wanted it so badly, either. He just... froze.

"I thought he was alone..." the boy muttered softly, watching the two of them walk away from a distance. "Perhaps... like... like me."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is a fanfic. Thank you very much.

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><p><em>Previously: "Y-yeah. Bye." He wanted to tell Mikeru he wished him all the best and that he hoped his check-up wasn't for anything serious, but he couldn't. He didn't know why he couldn't tell Mikeru he wanted him to be alive and healthy. He didn't know why he wanted it so badly, either. He just... froze.<em>

_"I thought he was alone..." the boy muttered softly, watching the two of them walk away from a distance. "Perhaps... like... like me."_

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><p>He gazed up at the sky, pensively. In a way, the dark clouds looming overhead, telling him today was going to be a lousy day, meant a lot to him. They immitated and resembled the way life was going to treat him in the future. They seemed like a perfect replica of what was inside of him; gloomy, smokey, darkness. If one were to pull his heart out of his chest, they would find nothing but ashes.<p>

He slid the tin of blood-pills out of his vest and ran over the slightly sharp edges with his thumb. "If I'm good at anything, it's lying..." He sighed and shut his eyes, remembering all the years of neglect and hatred. He remembered the orphanage he used to stay at, where all the other kids treated him like dirt because he was a pureblood. They were the poor souls who'd been abandoned by their families when said purebloods, or at least fullbloods (perhaps halfbloods, but nobody really blamed them cos that's what _they_ were) bit their precious little necks and turned them into vampires. he remembered how whenever he asked about his family, the only response he'd get from the man running the orphanage, was that a pesky, picky, know-it-all spoiled brat dropped him off. When he asked if the person looked like him, the man scoffed and said "not one bit" and that was that.

When people asked him if it hurt not to know your family, he always smiled and said just that, "Not one bit." And yet, in truth, he wanted to nod his head vigorously and tell them about how much it sucked to be aware of the fact that this life is the only one you're getting and you aren't living it the way others do - which is supposed to be the right way. That it's awkward and selfish to say, but that he really did want a good, fulfilled life. But how could he really expect that at this point? He was a freaking _vampire_ for Judy's sake. He didn't _deserve_ happiness.

He popped a pill and swallowed without even thinking about it at this point. It's not like he would die from some drug-overdose; why die of too much artificial blood? Artificial blood is like artificial happiness and yet people are just as happy with both the real and the fake stuff.

He still felt unquenched and unsatisfied, though. But that was mainly cos he's a pureblood. A halfblood could go without a single drop of real blood for months on end. And that was just too unfair.

He didn't even have a family to blame; no-one to point the finger at and say, "You did this to me". He didn't have a creator, he didn't have an older brother to go to for help or guidance. All he had was a shitty Mentor who enjoyed putting him on the spot and making him feel ridiculous and a half-mentor-ish-thing that did nothing but bounce about and suck on his blood.

Okay, so maybe that was a little unfair. Over the years, they had... helped him... right?

"Not really." He smirked for a second, but then the smile retracted and he furrowed his brows a little. "Actually, all they've ever done was get me into trouble."

He sighed once more and shut his eyes again. Every so often, he enjoyed to dream about a family he might have had before they died (or simple walked out of his life?). Sometimes, he'd imagine them to be loud and boistorous, and sometimes they were silent and helpful, like Sasuke described _his_ family. Sometimes he had a little sister. Other times twin brothers. His mother would be blonde and his father would have black hair. Other times, his father would have silver hair and his mother black. But their eyes were _always_ blue. He didn't know why. Probably because he has blue eyes and he wanted it to stay realistic.

The most common fantasy, though, was of a nice enough family, with strict rules yet so many smiles you'd think they were very loose with their words and that they agreed rules were meant to be broken. He'd have a brother with black hair, about his age, perhaps a little bit older. His oldest brother would have silver hair, and he'd have a mother with long, dark brown hair and a father with blonde hair, tied up in the back. Very sophisticated, the way he wanted a respectful father to be. And they would all be prepared to help him, yet they were busy enough with their own lives that they sometimes left him to take care of himself. He'd spend most of his fun time with his black-haired brother. His oldest brother would be out a lot, and he only came home very late, often to talk to his father. And when they were done talking, he'd poke him on the forehead before going up to his room. His mother would be the one to scold him whenever he did wrong, but he never took her words seriously cos she was just that hotheaded. And yet, she would also be the one to sit down with him and translate those French sentences he just couldn't understand. His father would be very busy, but he'd have enough time on his hands to help his son out with whatever was bothering him, if there was something bothering him at all. He would also be the one to pick the right person for him, to give him blood. He would most likely be the one that picked Mitaku.

Yes.. When he thought about that life, about going to bed in a house big enough to contain a family, filled with precisely those family-members as he slept peacefully, he couldn't help but smile. It warmed his chest in all its glory but a dream is just a dream and once he realizes this, the warm glow makes place for the smokey absence of a heart once more. Once he realised he was still himself, still alone, still without a family... it just wasn't describable; the way he understood that no matter what he did, the chances for that life were already gone.

The problem was just that he knew he couldn't do anything to change it. He couldn't create his parents, or go back in time. Even if he were to get adopted now, it wouldn't be the same thing. It just didn't count. Not anymore. It was far too late for that.

He concentrated on the dark clouds above him. The cold gust of wind didn't fase him, didn't reach his senses at all. He knew, for sure, that the air was present. He knew, judging by the darkness, that it should be cold. But he just didn't understand those matters anymore. Actually, he never really did.

He always felt cold. So, infinitely cold, that if one were to bring him to the hot springs, the water would fizz and smoke on his skin.

The halfbloods always said that it felt like dying, only for the rest of their vampire lives. Which is why they called it long-term dying syndrome. But cold wasn't the only thing that came with long-term dying. The feeling of panic resided in your body for the rest of your damned life, as well. The softest of sounds could awaken your paranoia and keep you alert.

Naruto sighed and shut his eyes. In his head he could hear a familiar piano-tune and realised it was the same song that kept repeating in his mind all week long. He just couldn't recall the name of the song, or the band for that matter.

"I bet you're so sick of hearing it, you don't really want this, you don't really want this," he muttered under his breath, quite clearly for someone whose first language wasn't English.

"Singing, now?"

He cracked open an eye to find Sakura coming to sit down beside him.

"What's up?" she asked, pulling her skirt over her knees and resting on her hand-palms.

Naruto propped up on his elbows and replied, "Nothing much. You?"

"Really? Cos I thought you were having throuble concentrating on your test after seeing Sasuke like that, and that you left class cos Itachi-sensei told you you needed some blood-pills..."

_God damn it, she's good at analyzing situations_, Naruto thought, sighing.

"He doesn't hate _you_, specifically, you know."

"Sasuke? Hmph. Not like I care."

"Really now?" She grinned cheekily at him and flipped over onto her stomach, folding her fingers underneath her chin.

"Really."

"Well, in case you _were_ interested, I heard him mutter something along the lines of 'Stupid dobe' before. So, he does worry about you."

"Worry? Why should he? I'm not worried about him. Not at all."

"Cos you're friends," she backfired, snorting.

"Well sure we are, but we're guys, we don't worry."

"Of course you do. If he were to go missing, you'd worry about him, wouldn't you?"

"Well, maybe I would, a little. But I wouldn't just randomly worry over someone. That's for girls."

"Oh really?" She raised a brow.

"Yeah. Anyway, what brought you out here?"

"I'm just trying to let you know that it's the Mentor's banquet at six."

"Right."

"Be there, Naruto. No chickening out. We're all celebrating our Mentors and thanking them for their hard work. You'd better have the courtesy to show up."

"Or what? You'll filipendo me off this planet? This isn't Harry Potter, Hermione, there is no Avada Kadabra that ends it all."

"Fine, Naruto. Whatever you say. I just want to make sure you're gonna' show up. It'd be a shame for Yamato-sensei to be met with disappointment at his first private banquet."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll show up; I promise."

"Okay. See you later then."

"See you."

She got up and pulled her bag over her shoulder, leaving at such a fast rate, she was probably unaware of it herself.

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><p><em>So... how do I sneak out without being noticed by the fifth-graders or the teachers?<em> Naruto thought, evading every student that happened to pass by him in the crammed hallway. The lunchbell rang five minutes ago and all the students were making their way either outside or to the cafeteria.

_ And furthermore, how the heck do I get back without anybody seeing me? At what time will I come back? Would it be smarter to just wait for first period to begin? But what if someone reports me as 'missing' to Tsunade-sama? Could I be able to make them believe that I was at the toilet the whole time? And what if someone does catch me trying to go outside? What'll my excuse be then? 'I'm sorry, I thought it was dinner time'? I am sooo screwed either way! FUCK._

"Naru-kun? What'cha thinking so seriously about?"

"Yamato-sama," the boy exclaimed, "what're you doing here?"

"In the hallway? What everyone else does in the hallway. What's up with you? You seem absent."

The usual bubbly-hyper-overdose Yamato was gone and was replaced by the Yamato he'd only seen once before; the serious, concerned one.

"Up? Nothing. I-uh, need to go to class, see ya'!"

"It's lunchtime; there are no classes." The serious look on the man's face was replaced by a deviously mischievous one and he asked, "What're you hiding?"

"Me? Hiding? Nothing! Why would I be hiding something? I mean, the only suspisious thing I ucould/u be hiding is a bad report card or something and we won't get our report cards for quite some time, so..."

"Hm. That's true. Well, I'll let you off the hook for now, but if you're still in trouble by the time it's the Mentors' party, you could always ask me for help, you know. I mean, I haven't been here for long and I don't feel like I deserve to be part of some kind of celebration yet."

"You? Of course you deserve to be part of it!" Naruto said, clapping the man on the shoulder as he tried to pass him by. "You're one of the best Mentors alive! Well, I've got to go now, see you!"

_Too close. Way too close,_ the blonde thought, managing his way outside without bumping into anyone like Sora or Kakashi.

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><p>By the time it was six p.m., Naruto was worn out from stressing and panicking so much. Nevertheless, when Neji asked him if he was 'coming or not?' he nodded and followed the boy to the Vampire lounge which used to be the one of the Music rooms. There weren't many people there yet. Only charges. They all sat patiently in their loveseats, talking quietly amongst themselves as though they hadn't the slightest idea at all what was about to happen.<p>

Naruto spotted the girl with the blue-ish hair, who'd told him about Kalika-sama, sitting in one of the corners, twidling her thumbs around the ring she'd removed from her middle finger, going through the loop absentmindedly and tracing over the little diamonds with her thumb. She seemed nervous.

He walked over and sat down beside her. Startled, she looked up quickly, realised it was him, blushed, and looked back down, trying to greet him properly without sounding anxious. "Hello, N-Naruto-k-kun." Well, at least she got the 'hello' out without any difficulties.

"Hi. Everything alright?"

"W-with m-_me_?"

Naruto was confused for a moment. "Who else?" he asked, though it was meant to himself. And yet she seemed a little disturbed by it and appeared to insult herself in her head for being so stupid instead of yelling at him, outraged that he could treat a lady that way.

"I'm- I'm fine, thanks. You?"

"I'm alright." He shrugged and slumped a little further back in the leather corner sofa, trying his best to look at ease so perhaps Hinata would relax a little as well. He was sure her Mentor wouldn't want to make her uneasy and the way she kept looking anxiously from left to right sure wasn't the thing Mentors went for when they were hungry.

"So, Naruto-k-kun... a-about Ka-Kalika-s-sama..."

"It's solved. Don't worry."

"Y-you figured it out?"

"Yup." _Damn. I was actually planning on asking her to help me figure things out, but I really don't want to make her worry any more than she already is. She looks like she's about to faint. _

"Oh. Good.." She sighed a sigh of relief just when all the other charges started filing in, some dragging along their Mentors.

When a good bunch of the older, wiser vampires were in the lounge, the charges all shouted together,

"HAPPY MENTORS' DAY!"

Naruto only caught sight of Yamato, who scanned around the room looking... nervous? _Wow, first time I've seen him looking like he'd rather be run over by a train than be here. Better help him out..._ "Yamato-sama," he called out, hoping to catch his attention. Luckily, Yamato was saved by Kakashi, who walked in just then and tapped his shoulder before walking towards the young blond.

Hinata quickly brushed some imaginary dust off her skirt and pointed at her Mentor, saying, "Oh, there's my Mentor, gotta go," and hurried off after Naruto nodded and said goodbye.

Before she disappeared out of sight completely the lights were suddenly turned off and he could barely make out the outline of his fellow vampires, mostly thanks to his pureblood powers. He was sure that the halfbloods couldn't see anything at all, what with the way this place was redecorated (thank you, Ino and Sakura) for them to not be able to see anything.

Before he even really took notice of it, he could feel the sagging of the corner-couch he was on and realised his Mentors were on either side of him. He felt someone's hot breath in his neck and since it most likely wasn't Kakashi-sama, with his mask and neverending peppermints, it was probably Yamato, whose breath smelled like pine trees, for some odd reason.

The man drug the soft part of his fangs over Naruto's flesh, causing a shiver to run up the teen's spine. Then , all of a sudden, Kakashi-sama was behind him and pulled his arm over his shoulder, relishing in the soft, white flesh of his arm, before pressing his sharp fangs into it and breaking the skin with ease. Naruto held his breath, realising all too well that Yamato was going to want to have a drink too. But the man was slower at this than Kakashi, and seemed to care more about what Naruto thought of him, too.

He pressed his lips against his neck and breathed against the throbbing veins, giving his skin butterfly kisses with his long eyelashes. It came to the point where Naruto just got so impatient that he wanted to get it over with and used his sharp nail on his index finger to make a cut on his neck.

Apparently, Yamato really was just trying to get Naruto to want to give his blood willingly, because he immediately dove in and sucked at the cut as though his life depended on it, finding a position for his hands by putting one against Naruto's chest and one on the backrest of the couch, which Kakashi was standing behind.

Naruto could hear the moaning of other charges all around him, and the soft mutters of names being called. He made a mental note-to-self to never forget the fact that Kurenai-sama called Kiba 'Ki-chan' and that even Neji moaned when Gai revealed his 'youthful powers' and went at it at full speed. He could hear the man say several times, though, that if Neji felt like it was enough, he simply had to tap him on the shoulder or something and the man would back-off.

Even Sakura seemed to be having a good time, and she was just supervising. It must have been odd for her, to have the principal as her Mentor, but that was only because Tsunade used to be a teacher here, whose rank got moved up by the previous principal, Sarutobi-sama. And since they already made the bond, Tsunade didn't want to break it, so she just stayed Sakura's Mentor. It probably didn't make it any less weird, though.

Meanwhile, he only felt hungrier by the moment, and wondered how the other charges managed to pull through with a smile on their face. It was then that Kakashi opened his mouth and pushed a bloodpill in, still feasting on his arm. Naruto's vision blurred and for a moment he thought it was the bloodpill, but then he realised it was Kakashi, who now had his teeth in his neck as well. For others it must've been either a very odd, or a very erotic sight, the two older vampires biting into the same charge's neck.

He, on the other hand, realised now why the other charges were moaning. It was like the best high ever. It was the kind you get when you're out running really long and you suddenly feel a burst of power and energy; that kind. It took over his entire being and clouded up his mind, making it feel as though he were looking through a puddle of rainwater at the world. He was there, but not really, and all the pain had gone. He felt the slow surge of to-and-fro movement as though his body were the shore and his blood the ocean, and he wondered idly if this was what it felt like to bond.

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><p>"Mou! Naruto could at least help us clean up!"<p>

"Relax, Ino, he's just tired-out. You only have one Mentor to please. He's got two."

"Yeah, yeah, Shikamaru, defend the guy with the special powers."

"I'm not defending him cos he's a Pureblood, I'm defending him cos nobody wants to take on _your_ rage."

"Jeez, all I said was that he could HELP OUT. I didn't tell him to die or anything."

"Guys, guys, please stop fighting," Chouji cut in.

"Hn. He's such a dobe."

"Sasuke-kun? Where were you, I was looking for you the whole time!" Sakura cried out.

By this time, Naruto had awoken and felt his head spin mercilessly.

"I was here. The couch in the back, by the window. Which you covered very well, might I add, Sakura-san."

The girl fainted and Naruto realised Sasuke probably only added that last bit to get her off his case.

"You up?" he heard, and felt someone go through his hair in a patting motion.

His shot up instantly, which wasn't a very good idea since everything was whirling around like it were a kaleidoscope in the hands of a little child, and he had just enough strength to distantly identify the person as Yamato.

"What the hell?" he asked, shocked. "What happened? What time is it?" _ OH FUCK! Kalika-sama! But wait.. If everyone's still here, it can't be too late._

"Relax, it's only eight p.m."

"Eight p.m..." he repeated, standing up and leaving.

"WHAAAAT? Hey! HEY! NARUTO, COME BACK HERE!" Ino shouted.

Shikamaru sighed, wiggling his pinky finger in his ear. "Told ya'."

- "Shut up , Shikamaru."

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><p><strong>AN**: OKAYDOKAY guys, since I decided to try and continue this story on deviantart, I thought I might as well upload some more chapters on for you guys :) Hope you guys are happy with it ^^


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